Stronger anti-stalking and harassment laws come into effect

Laws to strengthen South Australia’s response to crimes of stalking and harassment have come into effect as of this week.

The reforms, which passed State Parliament earlier this year, will make it easier for authorities to prosecute crimes involving stalking and harassment, while also better reflecting the serious nature of this type of offending.

These new laws update the list of behaviours which constitute criminal stalking and harassment to better cover digital stalking activities.

Under the previous laws, the offence of stalking required an intent for the conduct to cause serious apprehension or fear, or to cause serious physical or mental harm. The changes have lowered the threshold to causing harm, not just serious harm, making it easier for authorities to take action against perpetrators.

In addition, authorities will be able to prosecute in cases where the offender didn’t intend to cause harm but knew, or should have reasonably known, their actions would have caused physical or mental harm, or serious apprehension or fear.

The offence has also been renamed from ‘unlawful stalking’ to ‘stalking and harassment’, to enhance community understanding of what is criminalised.

If convicted, offenders will face imprisonment of up to three years for a basic offence or five years for an aggravated offence.

Quotes

Attributable to Kyam Maher

Stalking and harassment is an insidious crime that has very real consequences for its victims.

We know that stalking overwhelmingly impacts women and these law changes will better protect South Australians, including those who experience situations of family or domestic abuse.

These reforms update the types of behaviours that can be considered stalking and harassment, to ensure new and emerging forms of technology are also covered.

Nobody deserves to live in fear, and these laws will help ensure authorities have the tools they need at their disposal to tackle this menace.