Stalking Laws in Arkansas: Degrees, Penalties, and No Contact Orders

Arkansas stalking laws sort the offense into three degrees. Third-degree stalking is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in county jail. Second degree is a Class C felony carrying three to ten years in prison. First degree is a Class B felony with a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of twenty.¹ Which degree applies depends on the offender’s conduct, whether a threat or weapon was involved, and whether there is a prior conviction or protective order in play.

What Counts as Stalking Under Arkansas Law

Every degree of stalking in Arkansas shares two foundational elements. The offender has to act knowingly, not accidentally, and the behavior has to amount to a “course of conduct” rather than a single incident.

A course of conduct means at least two separate acts within a twelve-month period, with at least thirty-six hours between them. That gap requirement is deliberate. It filters out situations where two unwanted encounters happen back-to-back during a single argument or chance meeting, keeping the statute focused on patterns rather than isolated flare-ups.

The conduct also has to be the kind that would place a reasonable person in the victim’s position under emotional distress and in fear for their own safety or someone else’s. The standard is objective. The question is not just whether this particular victim felt afraid, but whether an ordinary person in the same situation would have. Emotional distress is defined as significant mental suffering, so trivial annoyances do not meet the threshold.

The Three Degrees

Third-Degree Stalking

Third degree is the baseline. A person commits it by knowingly engaging in a course of conduct that would cause a reasonable person emotional distress and fear for safety. Nothing else is required. It is charged as a Class A misdemeanor.

Second-Degree Stalking

Second degree adds two elements on top of the course of conduct. The behavior has to harass the victim, and the offender has to make a terroristic threat with the purpose of placing the victim in imminent fear of death or serious bodily injury. That imminent-fear standard also extends to the victim’s immediate family.

The practical line between third and second degree is the explicit threat. Third degree covers conduct that causes fear generally; second degree requires a threat aimed at making someone believe serious physical harm is about to happen. Second degree is a Class C felony.

First-Degree Stalking

First degree starts from the same emotional-distress-and-fear foundation as third degree, but at least one aggravating factor has to be present. Any one of the following is enough:

The offender violates a protective order under the Domestic Abuse Act, a no contact order issued under the stalking statute, or another court order protecting the same victim.
The offender was convicted within the previous ten years of second-degree stalking, terroristic threatening, a terroristic act, or a comparable stalking or threat offense in another state.
The offender is armed with a deadly weapon or represents through words or actions that they are armed.

Each factor independently satisfies the first-degree element. A stalker who violates a protection order while armed and a stalker with a decade-old terroristic-threatening conviction can both end up facing a Class B felony charge.¹

Penalties by Degree

Each classification carries a sentencing range set by Arkansas’s general felony and misdemeanor provisions.

First-degree stalking (Class B felony): no less than five years and no more than twenty years in prison.¹²
Second-degree stalking (Class C felony): three to ten years in prison.¹
Third-degree stalking (Class A misdemeanor): up to one year in county jail.¹

Fines are available on top of imprisonment. Felony convictions can carry fines up to $15,000, and a Class A misdemeanor fine can reach $2,500. Courts can also impose probation, community service, or treatment programs as conditions of a sentence.

The five-year minimum at first degree means a fully suspended sentence is not available at that level. That piece matters at plea negotiations, because dropping a first-degree charge to second degree is the difference between a mandatory prison term and a range that leaves more sentencing flexibility.

No Contact Orders in Stalking Cases

Arkansas provides two kinds of no contact orders that come up in stalking cases: pretrial orders issued while charges are pending, and extended orders that survive after conviction.

Pretrial Orders

Under Arkansas Code § 16-85-714, a court can issue a no contact order at or after the defendant’s first appearance. The order prohibits the defendant from contacting the protected person directly or indirectly in any manner, and from coming within a specified distance of that person’s home or workplace.³

These orders are not automatic. The court has to find one of the statutory conditions, which include a danger that the defendant will commit a serious crime, intimidate a witness, or interfere with the administration of justice. In stalking cases those grounds are often easy to establish, so judges issue the orders routinely. The terms stay in effect until the court modifies or terminates them, and the defendant has to receive a written copy.

Post-Conviction Orders

After a stalking conviction, the prosecutor can request an extended post-conviction no contact order under Arkansas Code § 5-4-106. This one is designed to protect the victim long after the criminal case ends, and the court decides whether to grant it based on the circumstances of the offense and the ongoing risk.⁴

Violating either kind of order carries its own criminal consequences. It can also become the aggravating factor that elevates a future stalking charge from third degree to first degree.

Defenses the Statute Allows, and One It Doesn’t

Arkansas recognizes that some professions involve conduct that could superficially resemble stalking. The statute carves out an affirmative defense for law enforcement officers, licensed private investigators, attorneys, process servers, bail bondsmen, and store detectives acting within their official duties. A licensed investigator conducting lawful surveillance for a client is not committing stalking, even if the behavior would otherwise fit the definition.¹

The defense only works when the professional is genuinely performing job functions. A bail bondsman who uses work resources to track a personal acquaintance out of spite falls outside the exception.

One defense the statute explicitly rejects: that the victim never told the defendant the conduct was unwelcome. Arkansas law provides that the absence of direct notice from the victim is not a defense to a stalking charge.¹

When Federal Law Also Applies

Stalking that crosses state lines or uses interstate communication tools can be prosecuted federally under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A, either alongside or instead of Arkansas charges. Federal jurisdiction attaches when someone travels across state lines or uses an electronic communication system in interstate commerce with the intent to harass, intimidate, or place another person in fear of death or serious bodily injury.⁵

The federal statute uses the same course-of-conduct concept, requires reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury or substantial emotional distress, and extends protection to the victim’s immediate family, spouse or intimate partner, and pets or service animals. Conviction can bring up to five years in prison and fines up to $250,000. For Arkansas residents, this matters when threatening messages come from another state or when a victim relocates and the stalker follows.

Protective orders carry a federal consequence too. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), a person subject to a qualifying protective order covering harassment, stalking, or threats against an intimate partner is barred from purchasing, possessing, or transporting firearms and ammunition. The restriction generally applies once the order has been issued after a hearing with notice and an opportunity to be heard, which a full no contact order can satisfy. Violating the federal firearms ban is a separate federal felony.

1
Justia. Arkansas Code 5-71-229 – Stalking
2
Justia. Arkansas Code 5-4-401 – Sentence
3
Justia. Arkansas Code 16-85-714 – No Contact Orders – Definitions
4
Justia. Arkansas Code 5-4-106 – Extended Post-Conviction No Contact Order
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2261A – Stalking