Labour Party Conference 2011: Yvette Cooper's Call For Stalking Law 'Clarity'

Yvette Cooper's Call For Stalking Law 'Clarity'
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Stalking should be made a specific criminal offence to stop victims being let down by the justice system, Labour will say.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper will commit the Opposition to the move in a speech to Labour women gathering for the party's annual conference.

She will blame a "lack of clarity" in the law for allowing stalking cases to escalate into still more "heinous" crimes against both women and men.

Campaigners believe the 1997 Protection from Harassment Act, which is currently used to prosecute stalkers, must be urgently reviewed.

They say it has been used too widely against low-key social "irritations", leading to the perceived seriousness of stalking being devalued.

A group of MPs and peers is already undertaking a review of the legislation as well as "society's lenient attitude towards stalking".

Speaking at the two-day women's event at Labour's autumn conference in Liverpool, Ms Cooper is expected to say the criminal justice system is "failing to protect" stalking victims.

"We will take action to clarify the law, the powers and the criminality of this intimidating act and prevent it from leading to more serious crimes," she will say.

"There have been too many tragic cases of women and men being stalked and a lack of clarity in the law has allowed this to go on for too long and lead to heinous crimes and this must end."

Labour pointed to official figures that suggested 4.5 million women had been stalked and that stalking preceded more than 40% of deadly cases of domestic violence.