The Criminalization of Stalking in Indonesia: Assessing the Urgency and Formulation of a New Criminal Offense Under the National Criminal Code and a Comparative Analysis with Common Law Countries
Keywords:
Stalking Criminalization, Article 493 of the National Criminal Code, Cyberstalking, Comparative Law, Common Law, Offense Reformulation.Abstract
Stalking constitutes a serious threat to the safety and psychological well-being of victims, a threat that has grown increasingly complex in the wake of digital technological developments that have given rise to the phenomenon of cyberstalking. In Indonesia, the criminal law response to this offense remains fragmented and insufficiently comprehensive: Article 493 of the National Criminal Code (Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana/KUHP), which entered into force in January 2026, criminalizes stalking only in public spaces, failing to encompass stalking conducted in private settings or through electronic means, thereby creating a regulatory gap that is fundamentally detrimental to victims. This study aims to formulate an ideal and comprehensive model for a stalking offense within Indonesia's criminal law system through a critical evaluation of Article 493 of the National Criminal Code and a comparative study of anti-stalking legislation in selected Common Law jurisdictions, specifically the United States and the United Kingdom. The research employs a normative legal research method (doctrinal legal research) grounded in a comparative legal approach, utilizing qualitative content analysis and the functional equivalence method as the primary evaluative framework. The findings identify three structural deficiencies in Article 493 of the National Criminal Code, namely, a restricted geographical scope, the absence of explicit provisions addressing cyberstalking, and the omission of pattern of behavior and fear standard as constituent elements of the offense, all of which have been addressed more comprehensively by legislation in the United States through 18 U.S. Code § 2261A and the California Penal Code § 646.9, and in the United Kingdom through the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. This study contributes to the field by proposing a reformulated stalking offense that integrates all three dimensions of criminalization, public, private, and digital, as a de lege ferenda policy recommendation for the ongoing reform of Indonesian criminal law.
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