Online Stalking Legislation and Tasks for their Improvement

Abstract

Due to the ambiguity surrounding the concept of stalking, there has been much difficulty in introducing laws on how to punish stalking. In short, concerns with regard to overexpanding punitive authority have acted as an obstacle to the legislation of laws on the punishment of stalking, but surprisingly enough the Act on the Punishment of Stalking Crimes was passed in 2021 after long-held discussions. Legislation and enforcement of the Act on the Punishment of Stalking Crimes have made it possible to make a full-fledged response against stalking crimes. However, this same law doesn't mean that an effective response can be made against all stalking crimes. In particular, there is much still left to be done with regard to shoring up the response against online stalking. Lately, in addition to making threats by physically approaching the victim, stalking online has come to the fore as a social issue. Unlike stalking behavior that occurs offline, online stalking is characterized by anonymity, being unconstrained by time and space, and a high degree of transmission. The semi-permanent harm from online stalking demands stronger punishment, but as these new types of crime go beyond the expected scope of existing penal laws, there's a vacuum in terms of their punishment. In particular, previous laws for punishing stalking were impracticable for punishing all types of online stalking. Therefore, legislative measures and institutional improvements were desperately needed to adequately restrict online stalking. Therefore, the present study examined laws on online stalking and reviewed in detail solutions for their improvement. Online stalking through the use of information communication networks has a lower risk when compared to stalking in person where a stalker directly comes face to face with victim. However, online stalking is unconstrained by time and place, has a higher frequency of occurrence, and its harm continues semi-permanently. Thus, its severity cannot be overlooked, and adequate laws that address it must be devised. Specifically, relaxing the requirement for establishing patterns of online stalking crimes, prevention of the spread of harm, and consolidating laws on the punishment of online stalking can prevent the spread of harm and see to delivering an adequate response against online stalking.