Federal Council warns against high expectations of stalking as an offense
Published: Wednesday, May 15th 2024, 12:10
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Stalking, i.e. repeated stalking, should become a separate criminal offense according to the wishes of the National Council's Legal Affairs Committee. The Federal Council acknowledges this need and at the same time warns against high expectations, as it announced on Wednesday.
According to the Federal Council, it is precisely because individual acts of stalking could be unproblematic under criminal law on their own that it remains difficult to assess when the victim's freedom to shape their life is restricted in a punishable manner, even with a separate offense.
Furthermore, a separate criminal offense of stalking would likely result in more effort and higher costs for law enforcement. The proposal of the National Council's Legal Affairs Committee (RK-N) should therefore be clarified to the effect that stalking only occurs if the victim is "unreasonably" restricted, the Federal Council demands. According to the Federal Council, this amendment should exempt relatively minor encroachments on the victim's freedom from criminal liability.
In addition, the crime should only be prosecuted at the request of the victim. Only the victim can judge whether their sense of security or freedom is impaired, according to the state government. Criminal proceedings should not be able to be initiated against the will of the victim. In contrast to the RK-N draft, the Federal Council believes that this should also apply to relationships between couples.
The Federal Council had previously argued that there were already options under both criminal and civil law to take action against individual types of behavior. For this reason, it had previously spoken out against the introduction of an explicit offense of stalking in the Criminal Code.
However, the feedback from the consultation process showed that the proposal for a separate offense of stalking was welcomed by the majority, the Federal Council went on to say.
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