MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – A Senate committee is working on a bill that would make it illegal to lurk outside and look into people’s homes.

The bill would also make it illegal to photograph a person naked or partially clothed without permission in a place where the person should expect privacy, including homes, locker rooms and restrooms. The committee debated whether that should exempt store security cameras or private detectives.

A Williamstown woman, who was the victim of voyeurism, urged Committee Chairman Richard Sears, D-Bennington, to criminalize Peeping Tom behavior. A year ago, Winona Johnson discovered that a man had been looking in the windows of her home. A few months later, she learned that a man had been arrested for taking pictures of other people through their windows. She’s convinced it was the same man.

Johnson and others have learned that it wasn’t necessarily illegal to peep into people’s homes. Crimes such as stalking or trespassing often don’t fit the offense.

Some of the details of the bill drew concerns from the American Civil Liberties Union. Executive Director Allen Gilbert said he’s worried about people being entrapped by the law since it can be a fine line between walking by someone’s house versus peering in imprudently. Gilbert told the committee with some modifications he’s close to being able to accept the bill.

Sarah Kenney, public policy coordinator for the Vermont Network Against Domestic & Sexual Violence, praised the bill.

She said the state’s stalking law is insufficient in many cases because it requires proving a documented pattern of behavior that caused the victim to be in fear. If a person doesn’t find out about the stalker until after the fact, it’s difficult to prove the victim was in fear at the time, she said.

Kenney said her agency also is pushing for changes to the stalking law.

With the increasing technology of devices such as cell phone cameras, Kenney said having a voyeurism law is all the more important. “It’s so easy to take pictures with a digital camera and put it on the Internet,” she said.

Michele Childs, the legislative counsel who is drafting the voyeurism bill, said the bill would make a first offense a misdemeanor and subsequent offenses a felony.

AP-ES-01-21-05 1431EST