Legal regulation of stalking in Croatian and foreign legislation

Autorica rada analizira pravno uređenje kaznenog djela nametljivog ponašanja u hrvatskom i stranim zakonodavstvima. Nametljivo ponašanje uvedeno je 2013. u Kaznenom zakonu u Glavi „Kaznena djela protiv osobne slobode“. Iako je relativno novo kazneno djelo, hrvatska je sudska praksa uspjela izgraditi neka stajališta koja se tiču trajanja uhođenja i uznemiravanja, ustrajnosti počinitelja te pretrpljenog straha žrtve. Sjedinjene Američke države pionir su kriminalizacije stalkinga, a na području Europe to je Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo. U radu je obrađeno i njemačko te talijansko rješenje. Sva uređenja pokazuju određene sličnosti u definiraju kaznenog djela, a razlike se najviše odnose na raspon kazne, odnos s ostalim srodnim kaznenim djelima te standarde koje je razvila sudska praksa. Zbog svoje prirode i dostupnosti interneta, cyberstalking predstavlja veliki izazov modernim zakonodavstvima pa će države morati ojačati međunarodnu suradnju kako bi spriječile da cyberstalking eskalira u teška kaznena djela s međunarodnim obilježjem.The author analyzes the legal regulation of the criminal offence of stalking in croatian and foreign legislation. Stalking was introduced in 2013. in the Criminal code in the Chapter "Criminal offences against personal freedom". Although this is a relatively new crime, croatian jurisprudence has been able to build some viewpoints on the length of persecution and harassment, the persistence of the offender and the anxiety and fear of the victim. The United States is a pioneer in the criminalization of stalking and in Europe the United Kingdom was first to combat this crime. Both german and italian regulations are also analyzed. All rulings show some similarities in the definition of criminal offence and the differences are mostly related to the range of punishment, the relation with other similar offences and the standards developed by judicial practice. Because of its nature and availability of the Internet, cyberstalking presents a major challenge to modern legislation so states will have to strengthen international cooperation to prevent cyberstalking from escalating into serious crimes with an international dimension