Measures to Safety: Applied to the Offence of Stalking

Abstract

          Nowadays, society has developed economically, socially, and technologically. However, it has been observed that some people take advantage of these advancements to illegally access others' private information. This social phenomenon has led to an offense against the victim known as stalking, and the number of cases is growing continuously. In this offense, the offender may be either a familiar person or a complete stranger. They usually monitor the victim closely and conduct a certain stalking act for a continued period of time to serve the intention of the offender, such as stalking, secretly taking pictures, communicating both by telephone or other means of communication without the victim’s consent. Despite no direct harm to property, life, or the body, they repeatedly disturb the victim's mind, resulting in serious consequences such as paranoia, anxiety, panic, and insecurity. These wrongful acts might pave the way for more serious crimes subsequently. However, Thailand has no legal measures or procedures to protect people from stalking which do not require the case to be in the prosecution process. Given the nature of this offense, which has a near and immediate impact on the victim, it may be too late to protect the victim before the lawsuit is filed. Therefore, it is necessary for Thailand to have legal measures in place to protect the victim before filing a lawsuit to ensure initial protection of the victim from further damage, as the same way as some other countries have established such measures to protect the victims before legal procedures.

          This article seeks to investigate pre-litigation legal measures to safeguard individuals from being stalked. Aside from Thai law, this study also scrutinizes other countries’ legislatures, including England, South Korea, and Germany, they prioritize privacy because stalking are acts that violate privacy and affect the safety of society. Legislation and law enforcement aimed at protecting the right of privacy in these three countries will serve as a prototype for amending the criminal code. Therefore, there should be pre-litigation legal measures that are in the form of orders to protect individuals from stalking by preventing offenses from occurring in the first place or minimizing the damage that may occur and lead to violence.