Vulnerability, victims and free movement: the case of cyberstalking

Any crime can have enormous emotional and physical consequences for the victim. However, two potential attributes of a crime which can signifi cantly worsen the ordeal suff ered by the victim are, fi rstly, that it is committed behind closed doors, especially the doors of one’s home, and secondly, that it is committed anonymously.1 Cyberstalking, by which high-tech methods are used to distress, frighten and intimidate the victim, is almost unique in that it can possess both of these attributes, sometimes even both at once. Despite this, the European Commission, in a recent proposal for a directive, has not seen fi t to include it on a list of crimes the victims of which are “particularly vulnerable”. In this article, the authors consider the proposal in detail, before looking at cyberstalking itself, and demonstrating why, in their opinion, the new directive should be amended to contain a specific reference to this crime. Going forward, they call for bespoke EU legislation to protect victims of cyberstalking throughout Europe.