How to build evidence of stalking

You get home from work and they are standing outside.

“Just talk to me. Five minutes.”

They were there last week, and the week before. Every time you think about going to the police, the same question comes up. What do I actually have?

Stalking is a crime of repetition. The evidence has to accumulate too.

How thirteen countries treat stalking

These are the countries we checked. Ireland, Germany, France and Brazil are not included. The US and Australia legislate state by state, so we have used representative jurisdictions. We confirmed that Mexico’s federal bill passed the Chamber of Deputies, but not that it has been published and brought into force.

Two things stand out. South Korea and Japan changed their law so that stalkers can be prosecuted whatever the victim wants, and Chile and Argentina have no general stalking offence in their criminal codes at all.

England and Wales: two offences, and an order before conviction

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 separates stalking into two levels. The basic offence under section 2A is summary only, with a maximum of six months. Stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm or distress under section 4A carries up to ten years, raised from five in 2017.

Since January 2021, police in England and Wales can apply for a stalking protection order under the Stalking Protection Act 2019 before any conviction, to give immediate protection while a case is pending.

Canada, Australia and New Zealand: repetition and fear

Canada’s criminal harassment offence (Criminal Code section 264) covers repeatedly following, communicating with or watching someone in a way that causes them to reasonably fear for their safety. On indictment the maximum is ten years; on summary conviction, two years less a day.

New South Wales makes it an offence to stalk or intimidate someone intending to cause fear of physical or mental harm, with a maximum of five years (Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007, section 13). The prosecution does not have to prove the victim actually felt afraid. Apprehended violence orders sit alongside the offence.

New Zealand is the most specific about repetition. Harassment is a pattern of behaviour made up of at least two specified acts within 12 months. Where the person intended to make you fear for your safety, or knew it was likely, it is criminal harassment with a maximum of two years (Harassment Act 1997, section 8). If the conduct falls short of the criminal test, you can still apply to the District Court for a restraining order.

The United States and India: different thresholds

In the United States stalking is mainly a state offence. The federal statute (18 U.S.C. §2261A) covers stalking that crosses state lines or uses electronic communications, with a basic maximum of five years that rises with the harm caused. California’s offence (Penal Code section 646.9) requires repeatedly following or harassing someone and making a credible threat that puts them in reasonable fear for their safety or their family’s.

India defines stalking in section 78 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 as a man repeatedly following or contacting a woman despite her clear disinterest, or monitoring her use of the internet, email or other electronic communication. The maximum is three years on a first conviction and five years after that.

Outside the English-speaking world

South Korea punishes stalking — continuing or repeated approaches, following, contact or waiting near someone’s home against their will — with up to three years or a ₩30 million fine, and up to five years with a weapon. In July 2023 it abolished the rule that a stalker could not be punished against the victim’s wishes, and from January 2024 courts can order electronic monitoring of an offender to enforce a stay-away order.

Japan’s Anti-Stalking Act became prosecutable without a complaint in 2017. It added obtaining someone’s location by GPS without consent in 2021, and from 30 December 2025 attaching or using a lost-item tracking tag to do the same.

Spain (Criminal Code article 172 ter) and Italy (article 612-bis) both punish persistent, repeated harassment that seriously disrupts daily life. Both generally require a complaint by the victim, with exceptions: in Spain for family and gender-based violence, and in Italy where the victim is a minor or a person with a disability. In Italy, a complaint can be withdrawn only in court, and cannot be withdrawn at all where the conduct involved repeated threats.

Chile and Argentina, as far as we could confirm, have no general stalking offence in their criminal codes. A bill creating one has been pending in Chile’s Congress since 2021. In Buenos Aires, threatening harassment is a minor offence under article 52 of the city’s code of misdemeanours, punishable by one to five days’ community work, a fine or short arrest.

What you need is a record of many times, not one

Almost every one of these laws turns on repetition. New Zealand says two acts in twelve months; Korea says continuing or repeated; Canada says repeatedly. That means a record built up over time does more than one dramatic moment.

What you can keep:

• Screenshots of texts, messaging apps and social media, with the date and the account visible.
• Call logs. How often, and at what times, they called.
• A dated record of each time they turned up: date, time, place, and what was said, written down the same day.
• Recordings of conversations and calls you are part of, where that is lawful where you are. A threat, or “just meet me once”, ends up in the file word for word.

In most US states and in India, a person taking part in a conversation can record it; California and some other states require everyone’s consent (is it legal to record a conversation you’re in?, which states are strict). Whether your phone can record calls at all depends on the model (call recording on Android).

What you should not do is just as clear. Putting a recorder or tracker in their car or bag, or recording their conversations with other people, means recording conversations you are not part of or collecting location data without consent. That can be an offence even when you are the victim. In Japan, obtaining someone’s location by GPS without consent is itself a stalking act.

The moment that matters comes without warning

Messages and call logs keep themselves. What does not keep itself is the encounter: outside your home, outside work, at the lift. Taking out your phone and pressing record in that moment can itself escalate things.

TalkSafe is an Android voice recorder that starts recording when it hears a word you set in advance. Keywords are recognised whoever says them, so you can set words you would say yourself, like “leave me alone” or “please go”. It works with the screen locked, and because it saves the 30 seconds before it started, what they said just before you said it is in the file too.

Why the original file and the opening seconds matter once a recording is used as evidence is in you have the recording, you still may not be able to use it.

What this comes down to

• Stalking is defined by repetition. Keep a dated record, not just the worst moment.
• England and Wales: six months for basic stalking, up to ten years where it causes fear of violence; protection orders before conviction.
• New Zealand sets the bar at two acts in twelve months; Canada and England go up to ten years.
• Chile and Argentina have no general stalking offence in their criminal codes.
• Keep screenshots, call logs, a dated log and recordings of conversations you are part of. Never plant a recorder or tracker on the other person.

If you feel unsafe, contact the police first. The record can come after.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Speak to a lawyer about your own situation.