A Comparative Study of Civil and Criminal laws relating to stalking in Scotland, Canada and Two States in America (California and New York)

Abstract

Stalking is unwanted and repeated attention, which causes fear or alarm for the victim. Stalking is a significant problem worldwide and needs to be effectively and legally addressed. While many jurisdictions have created stand-alone anti-stalking legislation, questions arise regarding their ability to be consistently used to prosecute perpetrators of stalking and protect the related victims successfully. Three countries which can be meaningfully used for a comparative case study are the US, Scotland, and Canada. Each of these has used a distinct and different framework with similar aims but different legal definitions and related sentencing. The following study will consider the criminal laws related to stalking across four selected jurisdictions, including Canada, New York, and California, two of the fifty states in the United States of America, and Scotland. These jurisdictions developed comprehensive legislation to prosecute stalking as a stand-alone crime but applying the law has been challenging. The hypothesis for the study is that despite having criminalised stalking for many years, the definitions of this crime in the four jurisdictions reviewed by this thesis would each benefit from reform. In response, the thesis suggests a series of recommendations to provide a blueprint for such reform.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Dundee
Supervisor	Pamela Ferguson (Supervisor)