POLICE would be handed the power to put extra protections in place for stalking victims under proposed legislation.
SNP MSP Rona Mackay is bringing forward new laws which would allow officers to apply directly to court for a stalking protection order on behalf of victims.
The Stalking Protection (Scotland) Bill was put out for public consultation yesterday and will be open for comments for three months.
Officers making the application would be required to show evidence of stalking behaviour and give their assessment that the individual is at risk.
Read more: Stalking takes toll on victims’ health, social life and jobs, Glasgow researchers claim
Ms Mackay said the move would boost protection and access to justice and go further than recent changes in England.
She said: “My proposal aims to give victims greater protection, and access to justice, by allowing the police to apply directly to the court for a Stalking Protection Order (SPO).
“The police will have to show that there is evidence of stalking behaviour and that they believe that there is a risk to the victim. An order would then prohibit the stalker from continuing this behaviour.
“This proposal goes further than recently introduced legislation in England and ensures that, no matter the relationship between the victim and stalker, that an SPO could be granted.
“I welcome submissions to my consultation that will help shape the bill going forward.”
A rise in stalking offences since 2012 has led to calls for greater protection to be given to victims.
A survey by the Scottish Government in 2017-18 found that 27 per cent of women aged between 16 and 24 had experienced at least one incident of stalking in the previous year, compared to only 12.1% of men of the same age.
Overall, 11% of adults had experienced at least one type of stalking and harassment. The most common was being “sent unwanted messages by text, email, messenger or posts on social media sites”.
This was experienced by 21.6% of females aged 16 to 24, and 7.5% of all adults.
But 4% of victims said intimate pictures had been shared without their permission, 10% said they had been followed and 11% had spotted someone loitering outside their home.
Read more: More than 1 in 10 Scots stalked or harassed last year
And while around half of all victims knew the perpetrator in some way, in two-fifths of cases (41%) the offender was someone they had never seen before.
The findings were taken from the Scottish Government’s Scottish Crime and Justice Survey, which examined the issue in detail for the first time.
It also found just a few thousand people were the victims of three-fifths of violent crime in Scotland last year, despite a sharp fall in crime overall.
Under current laws, individuals who are being stalked are able to apply to the court to have a non-harassment order (NHO) taken out against a stalker.
It means the victim has to take legal action themselves, which can be costly and stressful, leading to the numbers of victims applying for NHOs being low.
Prosecutors can apply for an NHO once a stalker has been convicted.
However, criminal cases take time to investigate and prosecute, leaving the victim to navigate a civil action at a vulnerable time.
In addition, if they do not qualify for legal aid, the cost is prohibitive.
Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, previously said the law had not responded to wider changes and needed to update legislation.
Earlier this month, researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University found stalking can have a lasting effect on victims, affecting their mental and physical health, undermining their employment or wrecking their social life.
A survey of 128 victims heard evidence of suicide attempts, anxiety, depression and isolation.
Some of those targeted said they had had to change jobs or move house.
However, less than half had reported their concerns to police, and many blamed themselves.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here