I know someone who's been accused of stalking a former girlfriend. She's called the police, and they've suggested he stop calling and texting her. I know he's also walked past her house, etc. but she used to live a couple blocks from him so I don't think that's necessarily "stalking."

So now he's definitely "known to the police" I guess, but at what point would he be legally defined as stalking her?

The definition of stalking, as officially defined by Black's Law Dictionary, is as follows:

The act or an instance of following another by stealth. 2. The offense of following or loitering near another, often surreptitiously, with the purpose of annoying or harassing that person or committing a further crime such as assault or battery. • Some statutory definitions include an element that the person being stalked must reasonably feel harassed, alarmed, or distressed about personal safety or the safety of one or more persons for whom that person is responsible. And some definitions state that acts such as telephoning another and remaining silent during the call amount to stalking.

If he lives near his girlfriends' house and avoiding her house to get to his destination is impractical, it may not constitute stalking. It really would depend on the jurisdiction that they reside in and on state law. If however she obtains a restraining order against him, some courts would require the boyfriend to move to comply with the restraining order.

Legal Help Forum
I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice.

I think you'd be surprised at what constitutes stalking these days, since the laws have changed in this regard. I think that a lot has to do with the perception of the intended "victim" now, wherease before you couldn't really do anything unless your life or person was imminently in danger.

Thanks for the information. That's a very interesting point about the possibility of having to move in the event of a restraining order. I've wondered if that would be the next step in this particular situation.

I guess some of the definition is fairly open to interpretation.

If it turned out that an accusation of stalking was unfounded, would there be repercussions to the person who made the accusation?

There would only be repercussions if the person who made the accusation did it with bad faith or bad intentions knowing that the accused could get into trouble. In essence what that person would be giving a false statement to a police officer which could be charged as a misdemeanor or felony depending on the jurisdiction of the offense.

Legal Help Forum
I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice.

I guess in recent years, digital communication has become involved in these cases too. It sounds like unwanted emails or texting can be a factor in some relationships that go bad.

I guess they're very significant if threats are involved?

The legal definition of stalking depends on how the legislature of the state that you reside in has chosen to define it. You should be able to view the definition of stalking online by simply looking up the criminal code or statutes for the given state that the acts are allegedly taking place in. Although I do not know when the information on the site that I provide the link for was last updated, it provides a good comprehensive list of how the different states have defined stalking and offenses related to it. http://crime.about.com/od/women/a/stalking_laws.htm.

M. Varn Chandola
www.rightlegalhelp.net