Overcriminalized.com Legislative Update

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New:

■S. 3727: STALKERS Act of 2010



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S. 3727: STALKERS Act of 2010



Sponsor: Klobuchar (D - MN)



Official Title: A bill to amend Title 18, United States Code, with respect to the offense of stalking.



Status:

8/5/2010: Introduced in Senate

8/5/2010: Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee



Commentary: This bill supersedes S. 3651, which is also sponsored by Senator Klobuchar. It would rewrite and supplement 18 U.S.C. § 2261A(1), which presently makes stalking illegal when the prohibited conduct involves "travel[] in interstate or foreign commerce or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or enter[ing] or leav[ing] Indian country" and when prohibited conduct occurs "that uses the mail, any interactive computer service, or any other facility of interstate or foreign commerce." As § 2261A largely does, S. 3727 would make it unlawful to engage in a course of conduct "with intent to kill, physically injure, harass, or intimidate a person . . . that causes or attempts to cause bodily injury or serious emotional distress." Neither current law nor this bill defines the vague terms "harass" and "intimidate." In addition, the bill uses a tort-law reasonableness standard, which is not defined in the bill, to criminalize conduct that "occurs in circumstances where the conduct would be reasonably expected to cause the other person serious emotional distress" even where the victim is unaware of that behavior. In specified circumstances, this bill would also add to the punishment set forth in 18 U.S.C. § 2261(b) for violating § 2261A. If (1) the conduct involves the violation of a protective order and the victim is under the age of 18 or over the age of 65, (2) the offender is 18 years old or older, and (3) the offender knows or should know that the victim is under the age of 18 or over the age of 65, the term of imprisonment that may be imposed would be increased by up to 5 years.