Stalking methods have become more sophisticated with the proliferation of communication devices. Legislation needs to be considered to regulate activities that cannot be dealt with under the current law.
The Supreme Court has ruled for the first time that obtaining location information by attaching a GPS device to someone's car "does not constitute surveillance under the antistalking law and is not a crime."
The law prohibits a person from surveilling people near their homes and other locations. The ruling decided the act of surveillance under the law was "observing the movements of a victim in a certain place" and concluded that using GPS to only obtain location information remotely does not constitute stalking.
The ruling is in line with the principle of "no punishment without law" in which only acts specified by law are regarded as crimes. The court may have ruled that an expansive interpretation of the law is not acceptable to avoid administering an arbitrary punishment,
Investigators have charged people with violating the law by monitoring victims' activities using GPS, with many of them having been convicted. The Supreme Court's ruling will force investigations to be reviewed.
It should be noted that this kind of behavior is not acceptable, even though it does not constitute a crime.
The defendants had installed GPS devices on the cars of an ex-girlfriend and estranged wife without permission and used the obtained information for such purposes as tracking them down. There is no doubt that such malicious behavior was an invasion of privacy that caused a great deal of fear and anxiety for the victims.
The accuracy of GPS has improved dramatically in recent years. Perpetrators now have access to sophisticated equipment that allows them to pinpoint the location of their victims, a situation that was not envisioned when the law was enforced in 2000.
There have been many serious incidents involving stalkers, including the murder of victims. In each case, flaws in the law were pointed out. In two revisions, mass e-mailing and persistent postings on social media sites were added to the scope of regulation, and penalties were also strengthened.
The use of GPS to monitor behavior could lead to violent crimes if it escalates. To prevent such incidents, the law should be revised to regulate such acts.
About 2,300 cases of stalking were uncovered last year. The number of reports and consultations of stalking has exceeded 20,000 annually for the seventh consecutive year. In addition to the police carrying out active investigations, it is essential to protect victims and improve counseling systems.
Some prefectural police departments are working with medical institutions to ensure that perpetrators receive counseling. The government should also make more efforts on these fundamental measures to prevent stalking.
-- The original Japanese article appeared in The Yomiuri Shimbun on Aug. 2, 2020.
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