Protection From Harassment Act 1997--An Evaluation of Its Use and Effectiveness

• NCJ Number: 190153
• Author(s): Jessica Harris
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 4 pages
• Corporate Author: Great Britain Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate
• Sale Source: Great Britain Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Research Findings, No. 130

Annotation

This paper reports on the findings of research that assessed the use and effectiveness of Great Britain's Protection from Harassment Act, which was enacted in June 1997 to address the problem of "stalking" as well as a range of behaviors that might be classed more broadly as harassment of one kind or other.

Abstract

The study examined 167 Protection-from-Harassment cases sent by the police to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) during 1998 for a decision on prosecution. Using CPS files as the main data source, details were recorded on the characteristics of each case and its progress through the criminal justice system. Interviews were also conducted with police officers, Crown Prosecutors, magistrates, and victims of harassment. The study found that the Protection from Harassment Act was being used to deal with a variety of behaviors, such as domestic and inter-neighbor disputes. It was rarely used for stalking as portrayed by the media, since only a small minority of cases in the survey involved such behavior. The most common reason given for harassment was that the complainant had ended an intimate relationship with the suspect (43 percent of all cases). The suspects and victims were known to each other in almost all cases; only 2 percent of suspects were strangers to the victim. Suspects were usually partners, ex-partners, or relatives (41 percent of cases); acquaintances (41 percent); or neighbors (16 percent). Although victims tended to choose the police as their first point of contact when making a complaint, many were unaware of the act and the remedies available. Victims had often endured the unwanted behavior for a significant time before reporting it to the police. The Crown Prosecution Service dropped 39 percent of harassment cases, compared with the national average of 14 percent for all offenses. In nearly half of the cases dropped, the defendant agreed to be bound over. Overall, the conviction rate in cases that resulted in a hearing was 84 percent. The sentence most often given was a conditional discharge (in 43 percent of convictions). Just over half of all convictions were accompanied by a restraining order. 3 tables and 2 references