New Jersey stalking laws include both traditional stalking and cyberstalking – a term that describes using the internet to pursue someone aggressively to the point of harassment. If you’re accused of cyberstalking, the crime and potential consequences could be severe. Working with a New Jersey criminal defense attorney can help you protect your rights and minimize potential charges.
What is Traditional Stalking?
New Jersey’s traditional stalking and harassment laws prohibit a person from “repeatedly maintaining a visual or physical proximity to a person,” either directly, indirectly, or through third parties. This can be done through “any action, method, device, or means, following, monitoring, observing, surveilling, threatening, or communicating to or about, a person, or interfering with a person’s property.” A stalker may “repeatedly [commit] harassment against a person” by “repeatedly conveying, or causing to be conveyed, verbal or written threats or threats conveyed by any other means of communication or threats implied by conduct or a combination thereof directed at or toward a person.”
Common types of stalking involve following someone, showing up at their workplace or home, making threats or harassing phone calls, and even leaving unwanted gifts. Victims may fear for their safety and experience emotional distress.
Understanding Cyberstalking Laws
Cyberstalking is similar to traditional stalking. Instead of harassing someone physically or on the phone, the stalker commits cyber harassment through electronic communication like text messages, emails, and social media. They might send threatening messages, share personal information online (doxxing), impersonate the victim, install spyware on the victim’s devices, or use GPS tracking to follow the victim.
New Jersey’s cyberstalking laws define cyberstalking as when a person communicates through electronic devices or a social networking site to harass someone, and:
- Threatens to inflict injury or physical harm to any person or a person’s property,
- Knowingly “sends, posts, comments, requests, suggests, or proposes any lewd, indecent, or obscene material” to or about someone, with the intent to emotionally harm them or place them in fear of physical or emotional harm, or
- Threatens to commit a crime against the person or their property.
Legal Consequences in New Jersey
Both traditional stalking and cyberstalking are serious crimes. Traditional stalking is a fourth-degree felony. If convicted, a defendant can be sentenced to up to 18 months in jail and $10,000 in fines. If the stalking violates a restraining order or is a repeat offense, it becomes a third-degree felony.
Cyberstalking is also a fourth-degree felony, with the same penalties. Defendants may also be charged with traditional stalking or terroristic threats, which have additional penalties.
Similarly, if the defendant is 21 or over and harasses a minor, the penalties jump to $15,000 in fines and up to five years in prison. Finally, if a minor is charged with cyberstalking, they may be ordered into programs to reduce harassing behavior and the dangers of cyberstalking.
Contact Our NJ Criminal Defense Attorney to Learn More
If you were accused of stalking or cyberstalking, legal representation is crucial to protecting your rights. An experienced criminal defense attorney at Keith Oliver Criminal Law can evaluate your case, explore possible defenses, and work to mitigate criminal charges. Contact us now for a free, confidential consultation.
