Virginia
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.
Stalking
Related Offenses
Also See: Virginia
Civil Stalking Law
Analyzing Stalking
Laws
Stalking
Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-60.3. Stalking; penalty. (2002)
A. Any
person, except a law-enforcement officer, as defined in §
9.1-101, and acting in the performance of his official duties, and a
registered private investigator, as defined in §
9.1-138, who is regulated in accordance with §
9.1-139 and acting in the course of his legitimate business, who on
more than one occasion engages in conduct directed at another person with the
intent to place, or when he knows or reasonably should know that the conduct
places that other person in reasonable fear of death, criminal sexual assault,
or bodily injury to that other person or to that other person's family or
household member is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
B. A
third or subsequent conviction occurring within five years of a conviction for
an offense under this section or for a similar offense under the law of any
other jurisdiction shall be a Class 6 felony.
C. A
person may be convicted under this section irrespective of the jurisdiction or
jurisdictions within the Commonwealth wherein the conduct described in
subsection A occurred, if the person engaged in that conduct on at least one
occasion in the jurisdiction where the person is tried. Evidence of any such
conduct that occurred outside the Commonwealth may be admissible, if relevant,
in any prosecution under this section provided that the prosecution is based
upon conduct occurring within the Commonwealth.
D. Upon
finding a person guilty under this section, the court shall, in addition to
the sentence imposed, issue an order prohibiting contact between the defendant
and the victim or the victim's family or household
member.
E. The
Department of Corrections, sheriff or regional jail director shall give notice
prior to the release from a state correctional facility or a local or regional
jail of any person incarcerated upon conviction of a violation of this
section, to any victim of the offense who, in writing, requests notice, or to
any person designated in writing by the victim. The notice shall be given at
least fifteen days prior to release of a person sentenced to a term of
incarceration of more than thirty days or, if the person was sentenced to a
term of incarceration of at least forty-eight hours but no more than thirty
days, twenty-four hours prior to release. If the person escapes, notice shall
be given as soon as practicable following the escape. The victim shall keep
the Department of Corrections, sheriff or regional jail director informed of
the current mailing address and telephone number of the person named in the
writing submitted to receive notice.
All information relating to any
person who receives or may receive notice under this subsection shall remain
confidential and shall not be made available to the person convicted of
violating this section.
For purposes of this subsection, "release" includes a release of the offender from a state correctional
facility or a local or regional jail (i) upon completion of his term of
incarceration or (ii) on probation or parole.
No civil liability shall
attach to the Department of Corrections nor to any sheriff or regional jail
director or their deputies or employees for a failure to comply with the
requirements of this subsection.
F. For
purposes of this section:
"Family or household
member" has the
same meaning as provided in §
16.1-228.
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Related Offenses
Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-60. Threats of death or bodily injury to a person or
member of his family; threats to commit serious bodily harm to persons
on school property; penalty. (2002) A.
1. Any person who knowingly communicates, in a
writing, including an electronically transmitted
communication producing a visual or electronic message, a threat to kill or do bodily injury to a person, regarding that person or any member
of his family, and the threat places such person in reasonable apprehension of death or bodily injury to
himself or his family member, is guilty of a Class 6 felony. However, any
person who violates this subsection with the intent to commit an act of
terrorism as defined in §
18.2-46.4 is guilty of a Class 5 felony.
2. Any person who
communicates a threat, in a writing, including an electronically transmitted
communication producing a visual or electronic message, to kill or do bodily
harm, (i) on the grounds or premises of any elementary, middle or secondary
school property, (ii) at any elementary, middle or secondary school-sponsored
event or (iii) on a school bus to any person or persons, regardless of whether
the person who is the object of the threat actually receives the threat, and the
threat would place the person who is the object of the threat in reasonable apprehension of death or bodily harm, is guilty of a Class 6
felony.
B. Any
person who orally makes a threat to any employee of any elementary, middle or secondary school, while on a
school bus, on school property or at a school-sponsored activity, to kill or
to do bodily injury to such person, is guilty of a Class 1
misdemeanor. A prosecution pursuant to this section may be either in
the county, city or town in which the communication was made or
received.
Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-152.7:1. Harassmentby computer; penalty. (2000)
If any person, with the intent
to coerce, intimidate, or harass any person, shall use a computer or computer
network to communicate obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious, or indecent
language, or make any suggestion or proposal of an obscene nature, or threaten
any illegal or immoral act, he shall be guilty of a Class 1
misdemeanor.
Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-386.1.Unlawful filming, videotaping or photographing of another; penalty. (2008)
A. It
shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly and intentionally videotape,
photograph, or film any nonconsenting person or create any videographic or
still image record by any means whatsoever of the nonconsenting person if (i)
that person is totally nude, clad in undergarments, or in a state of undress
so as to expose the genitals, pubic area, buttocks or female breast in a
restroom, dressing room, locker room, hotel room, motel room, tanning bed,
tanning booth, bedroom or other location; or (ii) the videotape, photograph,
film or videographic or still image record is created by placing the lens or
image-gathering component of the recording device in a position directly
beneath or between a person's legs for the purpose of capturing an image of
the person's intimate parts or undergarments covering those intimate parts
when the intimate parts or undergarments would not otherwise be visible to the
general public; and when the circumstances set forth in clause (i) or (ii) are
otherwise such that the person being videotaped, photographed, filmed or
otherwise recorded would have a reasonable expectation of
privacy.
B. The
provisions of this section shall not apply to filming, videotaping or
photographing or other still image or videographic recording by (i)
law-enforcement officers pursuant to a criminal investigation which is
otherwise lawful or (ii) correctional officials and local or regional jail
officials for security purposes or for investigations of alleged misconduct
involving a person committed to the Department of Corrections or to a local or
regional jail, or to any sound recording of an oral conversation made as a
result of any videotaping or filming pursuant to Chapter 6
(§
19.2-61 et seq.) of
Title 19.2.
C. A
violation of subsection A shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
D. A
violation of subsection A involving a nonconsenting person under the age of 18
shall be punishable as a Class 6 felony.
E. Where
it is alleged in the warrant, information, or indictment on which the person
is convicted and found by the court or jury trying the case that the person
has previously been convicted within the 10-year period immediately preceding
the offense charged of two or more of the offenses specified in this section,
each such offense occurring on a different date, and when such offenses were
not part of a common act, transaction, or scheme, and such person has been at
liberty as defined in §
53.1-151 between each conviction, he shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony.
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