A Pennsylvania stalking charge is, unfortunately, sometimes common for Bucks County divorce lawyers to confront for their clients. The crimes code defines it as,
A person commits the crime of stalking when the person either:
(1) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts toward another person, including following the person without proper authority, under circumstances which demonstrate either an intent to place such other person in reasonable fear of bodily injury or to cause substantial emotional distress to such other person; or
(2) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly communicates to another person under circumstances which demonstrate or communicate either an intent to place such other person in reasonable fear of bodily injury or to cause substantial emotional distress to such other person.
You will have to see what the defendant and his
Bucks County criminal lawyer first did in the stalking case. Pennsylvania's stalking statute became effective June 23, 1993. It was enacted because of the growing need to provide increased protection against certain kinds of predatory behavior. Often a precursor to increased violence and even
homicide, stalking is seen by many law-enforcement officials as an early warning of future violence against a victim. The stalking statute is part of a larger legislative initiative encompassing both civil and criminal remedies In addition to creating the crime of stalking, the Pennsylvania legislature included stalking as a crime for which protective orders may be issued. Stalking conduct may also be the basis for a civil order under the Protection from Abust Act. The legislative scheme, therefore, is an attempt to interrupt as early as possible the escalating cycle of violence.