To help ensure stalking victims get the protection they need and more offenders are brought to justice, a major independent review of stalking laws is being launched today (22 October).
For far too long, victims have been subject to debilitating and vicious abuse at the hands of stalkers who use any means necessary to monitor and control their victims’ lives. Statistics show that 1.4 million people over 16 experienced stalking last year, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
There is also evidence of police forces routinely failing to recognise stalking, and mishandling cases when they do, according to a stalking super-complaint published by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust on behalf of the National Stalking Consortium.
It also highlighted potential gaps in current legislation – flaws that may be hampering the criminal justice system’s ability to tackle stalking effectively and provide victims with the protection they deserve.
That is why the Home Office is acting swiftly on its commitment to review the law following calls from campaigners and survivors who say the system is not doing enough to protect them.
The review will examine whether current laws are strong enough to protect victims and ensure perpetrators are punished. It will also look at how stalking and harassment laws work together – and whether the system needs to be clearer and more joined-up to tackle these dangerous and harrowing crimes.
It will determine whether the law should change so that the police can better spot, investigate and prosecute stalking cases going forward. Crucially, it will also test whether the law can keep up with insidious, emerging forms of stalking, including those carried out online or using new technology.
Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips said
I’ve sat with victims of stalking who’ve shared, in painful detail, how this wicked crime has devastated their lives.
That’s why this review is vital – to make sure our laws are strong and bold enough to protect victims and track down perpetrators, as part of our mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Leading criminal barrister Richard Wright KC has been appointed to lead the review. He is one of the UK’s most experienced criminal lawyers with extensive experience working on stalking cases, including representing the prosecution in the case of Alice Ruggles who was tragically murdered by her stalker.
Alice’s parents, Clive Ruggles and Sue Hills said
Our goal has always been to ensure that what happened to Alice never happens to anyone else. Over the past 9 years, we’ve witnessed significant progress – particularly with the introduction of Stalking Protection Orders. However, the way stalking legislation has been interpreted has consistently posed serious challenges. This latest development is a major step forward, and we couldn’t be more pleased.
Today, the government published the terms of reference for the review, which will be completed by March 2026. It forms part of the wider Plan for Change to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Last year the government unveiled 6 new measures to tackle stalking – including legislating in the Crime and Policing Bill to issue new ‘Right to Know’ statutory guidance to empower the police to release the identity of stalkers at the earliest opportunity.
Further measures include victims being given more protection from offenders by making Stalking Protection Orders more widely available, defining stalking in statutory guidance and setting out a framework to help support services including the police, education and health services to work together and share intelligence on cases.
National standards on stalking perpetrator programmes will also be published to ensure that interventions properly address an offender’s stalking behaviour in a consistent and evidence-based way across England and Wales. New data on stalking offences has also been published by the Home Office to help inform policy and policing decisions on this crime.
Richard Wright, KC said
I am very grateful for my appointment to conduct this independent review of stalking laws. The stalking super complaint has shone a light on the experience of victims of stalking within the criminal justice system and my review will be conducted rapidly to identify any gaps in existing legislation and make any necessary recommendations for change.
It is essential that the criminal law provides the necessary level of protection to victims of this serious offence and that as a result victims have confidence in the criminal justice system and feel able to report dangerous stalking behaviour.
