Stalking?

While legal definitions of stalking vary from one jurisdiction to another, a good working definition of stalking is: a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.

However, the term "stalking" is more commonly used to describe specific kinds of behavior directed at a particular person, such as harassing or threatening another person. But the variety of specific strategies employed and behaviors displayed by stalkers are limited only by the creativity and ingenuity of the stalkers themselves. Suffice it to say, virtually any unwanted contact between a stalker and their victim which directly or indirectly communicates a threat or places the victim in fear can generally be referred to as stalking.

Oregon Criminal Law: http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_Oregon179

Oregon Civil Law: http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_Oregon106

Federal Law Summary: http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_Federal_Law_Summary889

The Stalking Resource Center has a Information Clearing house that provides a wide range of useful information for practitioners.

Materials included:

• Statistics on the prevalence of stalking
• Practitioner-specific educational tools
• Compilations of state and federal legislation and protection order statutes
• Case law digest of civil and criminal cases
• Multidisciplinary curricula
• Promising practices and innovative strategies
• Model protocols, forms, and procedures.

Stalking Resource Center: http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_Pennsylvania3677