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<p>The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 created the offence of harassment and latterly,
as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, stalking. The Protection of Freedoms
Act 2012 came into effect on 25 November 2012 and introduced two new offences of stalking,
by way of Section 2A and Section 4A, into the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.</p><p>The
Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold any data which shows the number of defendants
charged with and prosecuted for offences of stalking or the number of these who were
previously convicted of similar offences.</p><p> </p><p>However, management information
is held showing the number of offences of stalking in which a prosecution commenced
from each year from 2013. The table below shows the number of these offences to the
latest available year, 2021.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Protection
from Harassment Act 1997 { 2A(1) and (4) }</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Protection
from Harassment Act 1997 { 4A(1)(a)(b)(i) and (5) }</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Protection
from Harassment Act 1997 { 4A(1)(a)(b)(ii) and (5) }</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2013</strong></p></td><td><p>416</p></td><td><p>41</p></td><td><p>103</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2014</strong></p></td><td><p>700</p></td><td><p>128</p></td><td><p>258</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2015</strong></p></td><td><p>637</p></td><td><p>141</p></td><td><p>337</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2016</strong></p></td><td><p>519</p></td><td><p>83</p></td><td><p>336</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2017</strong></p></td><td><p>782</p></td><td><p>134</p></td><td><p>490</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2018</strong></p></td><td><p>1,208</p></td><td><p>290</p></td><td><p>622</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2019</strong></p></td><td><p>1,260</p></td><td><p>320</p></td><td><p>680</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2020</strong></p></td><td><p>1,281</p></td><td><p>407</p></td><td><p>743</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>2021</strong></p></td><td><p>1,618</p></td><td><p>488</p></td><td><p>967</p></td></tr><tr><td
colspan="4"><p>Data Source: CPS Case Management Information System</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p>The figures relate to the number of offences and not the number of individual
defendants. It is often the case that an individual defendant is charged with more
than one offence against the same complainant. No data are held showing the final
outcome or if the charged offence was the substantive charge at finalisation.</p>
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