Victims of stalking — especially those harassed by strangers — will get more protection if a new bill passes into state law, anti-stalking advocates said on Friday.
Known as the CREEP Act — an acronym for Ceasing Repeated and Extremely Egregious Predatory Behavior — the bill extends civil protections to New Yorkers who are being stalked, even those allegedly harassed by someone outside of their family or intimate relationship.
Attorneys at the Brooklyn-based law firm C.A. Goldberg, which supports the CREEP Act, say new legislation is necessary to protect many victims who are currently excluded from existing protection laws.
“Presently, a stalking victim in New York has no recourse to get a civil order of protection unless they are in an ‘intimate relationship’ or related to their stalker,” said Jian Hong Shi, a legislative analyst at the firm. “This means a vast number of stalking victims such as students stalked by classmates, therapists stalked by patients, employees stalked by co-workers, celebrities stalked by fans, ex-roommates, are excluded from the law.”
Having an order of protection is effective, Shi said, as alleged abusers must refrain from contacting the victim per the courts.
But unless a victim is related to or in a relationship with an alleged stalker, he or she has no civil options, Shi explained.
“Instead, they can go report the events to law enforcement. It can take months for the police to investigate the matter and only if there’s an arrest is the victim granted protections,” she said. “For various reasons, many victims do not want to go to the police, nor do they necessarily want their stalker arrested. They just want the stalking to stop.”
New York has ‘the worst’ protections presently
Brooklyn state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, who co-sponsored the CREEP Act, said the bill also updates protections from stalking on social media and other internet communications.
“Technology has transformed our lives, but in the era of cyberstalking, revenge porn and deep fakes, our laws haven’t kept up,” Gounardes said. “That means survivors of harassment and abuse are getting left behind. My CREEP Act would update our laws to create a new anti-stalking order of protection, enabling civil courts to more easily and quickly protect victims of harassment.”
New York is “behind the curve,” he added.
“Forty-three other states have already taken similar steps,” Gounardes said. “This commonsense policy modernizes New York’s laws to account for the digital landscape where so much harassment now occurs and ensures our neighbors and loved ones are protected both online and offline.”
Shi added that the Empire State leads the country in having “the worst” protections against stalking.
“New York is a national leader in having the worst protections for victims of stalking,” she said.
NYS Assembly Member Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, who co-sponsor the bill alongside Gounardes, said it is important to update current laws to ensure all victims can get civil orders of protection regardless of their relationship with their alleged stalker.
“New York cannot be a state that is so behind on protecting our residents from the dangers of stalking, including cyberstalking,” the assembly member said. “We have to modernize our laws and my legislation with Senator Gounardes, the CREEP Act, would do that by ensuring that we can issue civil orders of protection regardless of whether someone has an ‘intimate relationship’ with a perpetrator, knows them or not.”
Shi added that C.A. Goldberg helps dozens of clients who are excluded from stalking protections.
“All whose suffering could have been shorter and less traumatizing,” she said.
