Survivors of stalking face many forms of emotional distress and harassment. In order to protect innocent people from harassment, State Senator Mike Halpin’s measure to define emotionally distressing harassment as stalking was signed into law Friday.
“Stalkers often use purposefully emotionally distressing behavior to throw survivors off balance and bring pain into their lives,” said Halpin (D-Rock Island). “By harassing a survivor at their workplace, home, school or in their vehicle, a perpetrator is utilizing fear and embarrassment to intimidate and coerce a survivor.”
The law will bolster the legal definition of stalking to include harassment that causes emotional distress while more clearly defining emotionally distressing harassment. These types of conduct include creating a disturbance at the petitioner’s place of employment or school, repeatedly telephoning the petitioner’s place of employment, home, or residence, continuing to follow the petitioner about in a public place or places, among other items.
According to a study by the NCVRW, stalking is often under-identified by the justice system and under-reported by survivors. Stalking is also a concerning issue on college campuses, with 18-24 year olds experiencing the highest stalking rates, women and minority college students being at a higher risk and 41% of undergraduate students having experienced tech-facilitated stalking according to the University of Illinois.
“Illinoisans have a right to feel safe and secure as they go throughout their day. We cannot tolerate any kind of harassing behavior in our state,” said Halpin. “Stalkers will go to great lengths to get what they want and our government is going to great lengths to stop them.”
House Bill 2873 is effective immediately.
***Courtesy of State Senator Mike Halpin***
