Stronger stalking protections were announced during National Stalking Week. The theme for this year’s National Stalking Awareness Week is ‘Join Forces Against Stalking’. It highlights the importance of a multi-agency approach to help support victims.
The stronger protections come in the form of lowering the threshold to apply for a stalking protection order. Government increased maximum sentences for the most serious harassment and stalking cases, from 5 years to ten, in 2017.
Stalking is a pattern of unwanted, fixated, and obsessive behaviour. This behaviour is intrusive and causes fear of violence, serious alarm, and/or distress. There are many misconceptions about what stalking is about.
It is not romantic
It’s about fixation and obsession. It’s a crime and it destroys lives.
Research by the Homicide Research Group at the University of Gloucestershire shows a staggering link between murder and stalking. Out of 350 cases:
- 94% of femicides involve stalking behaviour (Exploring the relationship between Stalking and Homicide. Suzy Lamplugh Trust 2017)
- 1 in 5 women, and 1 in 10 men, will be affected by stalking in their lifetime (2016 Crime Survey for England and Wales)
Multi-agency risk assessment conferences are key for victim safety and holding perpetrators to account. Information sharing can save lives. Domestic homicide reviews continuously demonstrate that agencies should be better at communicating and sharing information in order to identify and manage risk.
Stalking victims receive the best outcomes and are kept safer when agencies work together. We have Domestic Abuse Support Workers and Advocates working directly with the police, health, education, and housing sectors in order to provide wraparound support for victims. The work we do directly with victims is life changing, life affirming, and life-saving.
If you are concerned about stalking, whether for yourself or a friend, please get in touch with Paragon.
We have teams across the south coast
