El tratamiento jurídico del stalking desde el prisma de las víctimas y los profesionales implicados: resultados de un análisis cualitativo

Abstract

The incrimination of stalking in 2015 has determined the emergence of quantitative studies that verify the existence of this phenomenon in spain. The results of this research show that although the victims talk about these facts with people around them, they rarely report the incidents to the police. This finding determines the convenience of analysing the victims’ use of the formal and informal protection systems and, more specifically, the treatment they receive both from the victim support services and from the criminal justice system. The present paper, on the basis of 17 in-depth interviews with victims and 27 with professionals, aims to elucidate, on the one hand, the victims’ protection needs, and on the other hand, the participants’ assessment on the legal response to stalking, their opinion about the institutional treatment offered to victims and their receptivity to the incorporation of alternatives to the criminal process.