Harassment
(asked on 26th September 2014) - View Source
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many stalking and harassment cases were recorded in each year since 2011.
The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) indicate the number of offences charged, in which a prosecution commenced at magistrates’ courts, rather than identifying the number of defendants prosecuted. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 created the offence of harassment and latterly, as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, stalking.
In each year since 2011-12 the number of offences charged by way of the stalking or harassment offences under the Act is as follows:
2011-2012 | 2012-2013 | 2013-2014 | |
Protection from Harassment Act 1997 { 2A(1) and (4) } | 0 | 72 | 529 |
Protection from Harassment Act 1997 { 4A(1)(a)(b)(i) and (5) } | 0 | 9 | 65 |
Protection from Harassment Act 1997 { 4A(1)(a)(b)(ii) and (5) } | 0 | 10 | 149 |
TOTAL - STALKING OFFENCES | 0 | 91 | 743 |
Protection from Harassment Act 1997 { 2(1) and (2) } | 7,713 | 7,159 | 8,303 |
Protection from Harassment Act 1997 { 4(1) and (4) } | 1,632 | 1,398 | 1,489 |
TOTAL - HARASSMENT OFFENCES | 9,345 | 8,557 | 9,792 |
TOTAL S2, S2A, S4 & S4A PHA 1997 OFFENCES | 9,345 | 8,648 | 10,535 |
Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System
There is no indication of the number of individual defendants prosecuted for these offences or the final outcome of the prosecution proceeding or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at the time of finalisation. It is often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more than one offence against the same victim.