Stalking / Cyberstalking
Injunctions for Protection (Restraining Orders) Against Stalking / Cyberstalking
Stalking (Florida Statute 784.048) means any person who willfully, purposefully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows, harasses, or cyberstalks another person commits the offense of stalking.
Harass means to engage in a course of conduct directed at a specific person which causes substantial emotional distress to that person and serves no legitimate purpose.
Cyberstalk means:
- To engage in a course of conduct to communicate, or to cause to be communicated, directly or indirectly, words, images, or language by or through the use of electronic mail or electronic communication, directed at or pertaining to a specific person; or
- To access, or attempt to access, the online accounts or Internet-connected home electronic systems of another person without that person’s permission, causing substantial emotional distress to that person and serving no legitimate purpose. If in doing so, he/she threatens your life or threatens to harm you, makes a credible threat to that person commits the offense of aggravated stalking, a felony of the third degree.
Credible threat means a verbal or nonverbal threat, or a combination of the two, including threats delivered by electronic communication or implied by a pattern of conduct, which places the person who is the target of the threat in reasonable fear for his or her safety or the safety of his or her family members or individuals closely associated with the person, and which is made with the apparent ability to carry out the threat to cause such harm. It is not necessary to prove that the person making the threat had the intent to actually carry out the threat. The present incarceration of the person making the threat is not a bar to prosecution under this section.
A person can apply for a Stalking restraining order if he/she is the victim of stalking and/or cyberstalking.
SPARC provided education, resources, and how to document instances of the crime of stalking.
The Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center (SPARC) is a federally funded project providing education and resources about the crime of stalking. SPARC aims to enhance the response to stalking by educating the professionals tasked with keeping stalking victims safe and holding offenders accountable. SPARC ensures that allied professionals have the specialized knowledge to identify and respond to the crime of stalking.
