Also see: Oregon Civil Stalking Law

Analyzing Stalking Laws

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ORS § 163.730. Definitions for ORS 30.866 and 163.730 to 163.750. (2009)

As used in ORS 30.866 and 163.730 to 163.750, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1)  Alarm" means to cause apprehension or fear resulting from the perception of danger.

(2)  Coerce" means to restrain, compel or dominate by force or threat.

(3)  Contact" includes but is not limited to:

(a)  Coming into the visual or physical presence of the other person;

(b)  Following the other person;

(c)  Waiting outside the home, property, place of work or school of the other person or of a member of that person's family or household;

(d)  Sending or making written or electronic communications in any form to the other person;

(e)  Speaking with the other person by any means;

(f)    Communicating with the other person through a third person;

(g)  Committing a crime against the other person;

(h)  Communicating with a third person who has some relationship to the other person with the intent of affecting the third person's relationship with the other person;

(i)     Communicating with business entities with the intent of affecting some right or interest of the other person;

(j)    Damaging the other person's home, property, place of work or school;

(k)   Delivering directly or through a third person any object to the home, property, place of work or school of the other person; or

(l)     Service of process or other legal documents unless the other person is served as provided in ORCP 7 or 9.

(4)  Household member" means any person residing in the same residence as the victim.

(5)  Immediate family" means father, mother, child, sibling, spouse, grandparent, stepparent and stepchild.

(6)  Law enforcement officer" means any person employed in this state as a police officer by a county sheriff, constable, marshal or municipal or state police agency.

(7)  Repeated" means two or more times.

(8)  School" means a public or private institution of learning or a child care facility.

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Stalking

ORS § 163.732. Stalking. (1995)

(1)  A person commits the crime of stalking if:

(a)  The person knowingly alarms or coerces another person or a member of that person's immediate family or household by engaging in repeated and unwanted contact with the other person;

(b)  It is objectively reasonable for a person in the victim's situation to have been alarmed or coerced by the contact; and

(c)  The repeated and unwanted contact causes the victim reasonable apprehension regarding the personal safety of the victim or a member of the victim's immediate family or household.

(2)       (a) Stalking is a Class A misdemeanor.

(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, stalking is a Class C

     felony if the person has a prior conviction for:

(A) Stalking; or
(B) Violating a court's stalking protective order.

(c) When stalking is a Class C felony pursuant to paragraph (b) of this

subsection, stalking shall be classified as a person felony and as crime category 8 of the sentencing guidelines grid of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.

ORS § 163.750. Violating court's stalking protective order. (1995)

(1)  A person commits the crime of violating a court's stalking protective order when:

(a)  The person has been served with a court's stalking protective order as provided in ORS 30.866 or 163.738 or if further service was waived under ORS 163.741 because the person appeared before the court;

(b)  The person, subsequent to the service of the order, has engaged intentionally, knowingly or recklessly in conduct prohibited by the order; and

(c)  If the conduct is prohibited contact as defined in ORS 163.730 (3)(d), (e), (f), (h) or (i), the subsequent conduct has created reasonable apprehension regarding the personal safety of a person protected by the order.

(2)  (a) Violating a court's stalking protective order is a Class A misdemeanor.
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a) of this subsection, violating a court's

stalking protective order is a Class C felony if the person has a prior conviction for:

                                                        (A)      Stalking; or

                                                        (B)      Violating a court's stalking protective order.

          (c) When violating a court's stalking protective order is a Class C felony

pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subsection, violating a court's stalking protective order shall be classified as a person felony and as crime category 8 of the sentencing guidelines grid of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.

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Harassment

ORS § 166.065. Harassment. (2001)

(1)  A person commits the crime of harassment if the person intentionally:

(a)  Harasses or annoys another person by:

                                                        (A)      Subjecting such other person to offensive physical contact; or

                                                        (B)       Publicly insulting such other person by abusive words or gestures in a manner intended and likely to provoke a violent response;

(b)  Subjects another to alarm by conveying a false report, known by the conveyor to be false, concerning death or serious physical injury to a person, which report reasonably would be expected to cause alarm; or

(c)  Subjects another to alarm by conveying a telephonic, electronic or written threat to inflict serious physical injury on that person or to commit a felony involving the person or property of that person or any member of that person's family, which threat reasonably would be expected to cause alarm.

(2)  A person is criminally liable for harassment if the person knowingly permits any telephone or electronic device under the person's control to be used in violation of subsection (1) of this section.

(3)  Harassment is a Class B misdemeanor.

(4)  Notwithstanding subsection (3) of this section, harassment is a Class A misdemeanor if a person violates subsection (1) of this section by subjecting another person to offensive physical contact and the offensive physical contact consists of touching the sexual or other intimate parts of the other person.

ORS § 166.090. Telephonic harassment. (2005)

(1)  A telephone caller commits the crime of telephonic harassment if the caller intentionally harasses or annoys another person:

(a)  By causing the telephone of the other person to ring, such caller having no communicative purpose;

(b)  By causing such other person's telephone to ring, knowing that the caller has been forbidden from so doing by a person exercising lawful authority over the receiving telephone; or

(c)  By sending to, or leaving at, the other person's telephone a text message, voice mail or any other message, knowing that the caller has been forbidden from so doing by a person exercising lawful authority over the receiving telephone.

(2)  Telephonic harassment is a Class B misdemeanor.

(3)  It is an affirmative defense to a charge of violating subsection (1) of this section that the caller is a debt collector, as defined in ORS 646.639, who engaged in the conduct proscribed by subsection (1) of this section while attempting to collect a debt. The affirmative defense created by this subsection does not apply if the debt collector committed the unlawful collection practice described in ORS 646.639 (2)(a) while engaged in the conduct proscribed by subsection (1) of this section.

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Related Offenses

ORS § 163.700. Invasion of personal privacy. (2009)

(1)  Except as provided in ORS 163.702, a person commits the crime of invasion of personal privacy if:

(a)   

                                                        (A)      The person knowingly makes or records a photograph, motion picture, videotape or other visual recording of another person in a state of nudity without the consent of the person being recorded; and

                                                        (B)      At the time the visual recording is made or recorded the person being recorded is in a place and circumstances where the person has a reasonable expectation of personal privacy; or

(b)   

                                                        (A)      For the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of the person, the person is in a location to observe another person in a state of nudity without the consent of the other person; and

                                                        (B)      The other person is in a place and circumstances where the person has a reasonable expectation of personal privacy.

(2)  As used in this section:

(a)  "Makes or records a photograph, motion picture, videotape or other visual recording" includes, but is not limited to, making or recording or employing, authorizing, permitting, compelling or inducing another person to make or record a photograph, motion picture, videotape or other visual recording.

(b)  "Nudity" means any part of the uncovered, or less than opaquely covered,:

                                                        (A)      Genitals;

                                                        (B)      Pubic area; or

                                                        (C)      Female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola.

(c)  "Places and circumstances where the person has a reasonable expectation of personal privacy" includes, but is not limited to, a bathroom, dressing room, locker room that includes an enclosed area for dressing or showering, tanning booth and any area where a person undresses in an enclosed space that is not open to public view.

(d)  "Public view" means that an area can be readily seen and that a person within the area can be distinguished by normal unaided vision when viewed from a public place as defined in ORS 161.015.

(3)  Invasion of personal privacy is a Class A misdemeanor. [1997 c.697 §1; 2001 c.330 §1; 2009 c.877 §1]

Note: 163.700 and 163.702 were enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but were not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 163 or any series therein by legislative action. See Preface to Oregon Revised Statutes for further explanation.

ORS § 163.702. Exceptions to ORS 163.700. (1997)

The provisions of ORS 163.700 do not apply to:

(1)  Any legitimate medical procedure performed by or under the direction of a person licensed to provide medical service for the purpose of medical diagnosis, treatment, education or research, including, but not limited to, the recording of medical procedures; and

(2)  Any activity undertaken in the course of bona fide law enforcement or corrections activity or necessary to the proper functioning of the criminal justice system, including but not limited to the operation and management of jails, prisons and other youth and adult corrections facilities.

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