Below is a guest criminal law blog post from Jim Loxley regarding stalking laws in Scotland.
Following the success of Scotland’s change in law on stalking, an alliance of UK stalking groups will be announced at Holyrood to celebrate. The event was put together by the Scottish National Stalking Awareness Group (SNSAG) and the alliance will seek to bring together organisations and agencies from across all countries in the United Kingdom. The new group will work with a view to promote a zero-tolerance approach to the crime. New anti-stalking laws got introduced to Scotland back in 2010 in order to both help protect the victims and to help reflect the seriousness of stalking offences.
Prior to the laws being updated, stalking was considered to be a less serious crime by Scotland and people prosecuted as stalkers were done so on charges of harassment. This punishment came under a ‘breach of the peace’ rather than anything more serious. Prime Minister David Cameron has recently announced that in the future, stalking will be recognised as a fully fledged criminal offense in both England and Wales.
The Holyrood-based event launching the alliance is expected to be attended by a number notable individuals such as Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, Ann Moulds, who is the founder of both Scotland Against Stalking and the SNSG, the Solicitor General for Scotland Lesley Thompson QC and a number of others.
A second launch event will be held simultaneously at Westminster, London which will be hosted by the Baroness Brinton. Both events have been set to take place at this time in order to coincide with UK’s National Stalking Awareness Day. The national day will ensure that the spotlight is to stay on stalking, further highlighting it for the serious crime that it is and ensuring that it remains on high profile.
Ms. Thompson added that she was delighted to support National Stalking Awareness Day in order to raise the awareness which such organisations are working on in unison, ensuring the zero tolerance of such an unacceptable criminal act. Ms. Thompson went on to say that it gave her the opportunity to make it quite clear to Scotland’s prosecutors to understand the seriousness of the crime.
This was a guest article from Jim Loxley, Director at car accident compensation claims specialists, My Compensation. Head over to their website for a deluge of useful information on making personal compensation claims.
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