§ 14-277.3A. Stalking.
§ 14‑277.3A. Stalking.
(a) Legislative Intent. The General Assembly finds that stalking is a serious problem in this Stateand nationwide. Stalking involves severe intrusions on the victim's personalprivacy and autonomy. It is a crime that causes a long‑lasting impact onthe victim's quality of life and creates risks to the security and safety ofthe victim and others, even in the absence of express threats of physical harm.Stalking conduct often becomes increasingly violent over time.
The General Assemblyrecognizes the dangerous nature of stalking as well as the strong connectionsbetween stalking and domestic violence and between stalking and sexual assault.Therefore, the General Assembly enacts this law to encourage effectiveintervention by the criminal justice system before stalking escalates intobehavior that has serious or lethal consequences. The General Assembly intendsto enact a stalking statute that permits the criminal justice system to holdstalkers accountable for a wide range of acts, communications, and conduct. TheGeneral Assembly recognizes that stalking includes, but is not limited to, apattern of following, observing, or monitoring the victim, or committingviolent or intimidating acts against the victim, regardless of the means.
(b) Definitions. Thefollowing definitions apply in this section:
(1) Course of conduct. Two or more acts, including, but not limited to, acts in which the stalkerdirectly, indirectly, or through third parties, by any action, method, device,or means, is in the presence of, or follows, monitors, observes, surveils,threatens, or communicates to or about a person, or interferes with a person'sproperty.
(2) Harasses orharassment. Knowing conduct, including written or printed communication ortransmission, telephone, cellular, or other wireless telephonic communication,facsimile transmission, pager messages or transmissions, answering machine orvoice mail messages or transmissions, and electronic mail messages or othercomputerized or electronic transmissions directed at a specific person thattorments, terrorizes, or terrifies that person and that serves no legitimatepurpose.
(3) Reasonable person. A reasonable person in the victim's circumstances.
(4) Substantialemotional distress. Significant mental suffering or distress that may, butdoes not necessarily, require medical or other professional treatment orcounseling.
(c) Offense. Adefendant is guilty of stalking if the defendant willfully on more than oneoccasion harasses another person without legal purpose or willfully engages ina course of conduct directed at a specific person without legal purpose and thedefendant knows or should know that the harassment or the course of conductwould cause a reasonable person to do any of the following:
(1) Fear for theperson's safety or the safety of the person's immediate family or closepersonal associates.
(2) Suffer substantialemotional distress by placing that person in fear of death, bodily injury, orcontinued harassment.
(d) Classification. Aviolation of this section is a Class A1 misdemeanor. A defendant convicted of aClass A1 misdemeanor under this section, who is sentenced to a communitypunishment, shall be placed on supervised probation in addition to any otherpunishment imposed by the court. A defendant who commits the offense ofstalking after having been previously convicted of a stalking offense is guiltyof a Class F felony. A defendant who commits the offense of stalking when thereis a court order in effect prohibiting the conduct described under this sectionby the defendant against the victim is guilty of a Class H felony.
(e) Jurisdiction. Pursuantto G.S. 15A‑134, if any part of the offense occurred within NorthCarolina, including the defendant's course of conduct or the effect on thevictim, then the defendant may be prosecuted in this State. (2008‑167, s. 2.)