Stalkers

What is Stalking?

Stalking generally refers to harassing or threatening behaviour that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at a person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalising a person's property.
These actions may or may not be accompanied by a credible threat of serious harm, and they may or may not be precursors to an assault or murder.
Legal definitions of stalking vary widely from state to state. Though most states define stalking as the wilful, malicious, and repeated following and harassing of another person, some states include in their definition such activities as lying-in-wait, surveillance, non-consensual communication, telephone harassment, and vandalism.

While most states require that the alleged stalker engage in a course of conduct showing that the crime was not an isolated event, some states specify how many acts (usually two or more) must occur before the conduct can be considered stalking. State stalking laws also vary in their threat and fear requirements. Most stalking laws require that the perpetrator, to qualify as a stalker, make a credible threat of violence against the victim; others include in their requirements threats against the victim's immediate family; and still others require only that the alleged stalker's course of conduct constitute an implied threat.

Facts

Stalking first received widespread public concern in 1980 with the murder of John Lennon, and again in 1981, with John Hinkley Jr.'s assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. It was not until the 1989 death of Rebecca Schaeffer, a rising young actress, who was killed by an obsessed fan who had stalked her for 2 years, that laws were initiated.

The following data were first released by NIJ in November of 1997 in a Bulletin entitled The Crime of Stalking: How Big is the Problem?

Stalking affects approximately 7.4 million victims world-wide annually.

While stalking is a gender neutral crime, 78 percent of the stalking victims identified by the survey were women, and 22 percent were men.
Researchers estimated that approximately 300,000 women & 100,000 men are stalked each year in Australia alone.

About half of all female stalking victims reported their victimisation to police and about 25 percent obtained a restraining order. Eighty percent of all restraining orders were violated by the assailant. About 24 percent of female victims who reported stalking to the police, as compared to 19 percent of male victims, said their cases were prosecuted. Of the cases in which criminal charges were filed, 54 percent resulted in a conviction. About 63 percent of convictions resulted in jail time.

Most victims knew their stalker. Women were significantly more likely to be stalked by an intimate partner -- a current or former spouse, a co-habitating partner, or a date. About 60 percent of stalking by intimate partners started before a relationship ended. Only 23 percent of stalkers identified by female victims were strangers. However, men were more likely to be stalked by a stranger or an acquaintance -- 36 percent of male stalking victims were stalked by strangers.

Young adults are also the primary targets of stalkers. For example, 52 percent of the stalking victims were 18-29 years old and 22 percent were 30-39 years old when the stalking started. On average, victims were 28 years old when the stalking started.

About 87 percent of stalkers were men. Women tended to be victimised by lone stalkers, but in 50 percent of male victimisation's, the stalker had an accomplice -- usually a friend or girlfriend.

Most victims were between the ages of 18 and 29 when the stalking began.

Stalkers made overt threats to about 45 percent of victims; spied on or followed about 75 percent of victims; vandalised the property of about 30 percent of victims; and threatened to kill or killed the pet(s) of about 10 percent of victims.

In most cases, stalking episodes lasted one year or less, but in a few cases, stalking continued for 5 or more years. When asked why the stalking stopped, about 20 percent of the victims said it was because they moved away. Another 15 percent said it was because of police involvement. Also, stalking of women victims often stopped when the assailant began a relationship with a new girlfriend or wife.

Results from the survey also indicate that female victims were significantly more likely than male victims (28 percent and 10 percent) to obtain a protective or restraining order against their stalker. Of those who obtained restraining orders, 69 percent of the women and 81 percent of the men said their stalker violated the order.

Overall, 13 percent of female victims and nine percent of male victims reported that their stalkers were criminally prosecuted. These figures increase to 24 percent and 19 percent, respectively, when only those cases with police reports are considered. About one-third of stalking victims reported they had sought psychological treatment. In addition, one-fifth lost time from work, and seven percent of those never returned to work.

Types of Stalking

Stalking is composed of three defining elements: the stalker's relationship with the victim, the stalker's motive in pursuing the victim, and the stalker's behaviour. The stalker's relationship with their victim provides a useful basis for defining and classifying the various types of stalking. Forensic psychologists have identified three types of stalking: erotomania, love obsession, and simple obsession.

Erotomania

The erotomanic stalker, usually female, has the delusional belief that they are passionately loved by another. They go to great lengths to contact the person of their delusion, usually a person of higher socio-economic class and status, or an unattainable public figure. These stalkers are often described as celebrity stalkers or obsessed fans.

Love Obsessional

This stalker is a stranger to the victim. They develop a love obsession or fixation on another person with whom they have no personal relationship. The stalker mounts a campaign of harassment to make the victim aware of their existence. The love obsessional stalker not only attempts to live out their fantasies, but expects their victims to play their assigned roles. They believe they can make their object of affection love them back.

Simple Obsession

Virtually all domestic violence cases involving stalking fall under this category. The victim can be an ex-spouse, ex-lover, former boss, or co-worker. In each of these cases, obsession activities begin after the relationship has gone sour or the stalker perceives mistreatment by the victim. The stalker campaigns to rectify the relationship or seeks some type of retribution.