
This page lists the most applicable state
crimes addressing stalking. However, depending on the facts of the case, a
stalker might also be charged with other crimes, such as trespassing,
intimidation of a witness, breaking and entering, etc. Check your state code or
consult with your local prosecutor about other charges that might apply in a
particular case.
St
alking
Harassment
Related Offenses
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§ 163.702. Exceptions to ORS 163.700.
Also see: Oregon Civil Stalking
Law
Analyzing Stalking
Laws
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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