Stalking
Stalking is a serious crime characterized by persistent and unwanted attention that can lead to significant emotional distress and fear for victims. Emerging as a public health concern, stalking has been legally addressed in the United States since the early 1990s, with laws established in all fifty states. However, the complexities of defining and reporting stalking complicate efforts to gauge its prevalence; many victims choose not to report due to fear of retaliation or victim-blaming attitudes from society and the justice system.
Stalking often occurs in the aftermath of a relationship, with many stalkers harboring delusional beliefs about their connection with the victim. The rise of cyberstalking through social media platforms has further complicated the issue, prompting discussions about the need for updated legal frameworks. Victims of stalking may experience a range of psychological effects, including anxiety and depression, which can be exacerbated by the stalker’s tactics, often rooted in issues of power and control. Stalking is frequently linked to other forms of violence, including domestic abuse, and poses unique challenges on college campuses, where young adults may be particularly vulnerable. Understanding stalking requires a nuanced perspective on the behavior of stalkers, the legal landscape, and the impact on victims, emphasizing the importance of supportive resources and awareness initiatives.
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Subject Terms
Stalking
SIGNIFICANCE: Stalking is a serious crime associated with other forms of criminal behavior.
Overview
Although stalking is perceived as a public health concern in the twenty-first century, the first antistalking legislation in the United States was not passed until 1990. Within five years, antistalking laws existed in all fifty states, and there is now a model antistalking code. However, the frequency with which stalking occurs is difficult to determine because of the varying interpretations of the law in each state. Part of the difficulty in determining stalking rates also stems from the low likelihood of a victim reporting the crime, which makes enforcement difficult as well. Fear of reprisals keeps reporting rates low. Rates are also affected by the age of the subjects under study, the funding agency, and the venue in which the study is conducted.
If the law is narrowly interpreted, proof of a lethal intent may be necessary to pursue legal action. Only a small percentage of stalking victims file a criminal restraining order. To do so, the victim must know the name of the offender, show that the stalking behavior was a pattern and not an isolated incident, and show that the offender was trespassing. Many stalkers, however, do not come in contact with the victim, and some victims do not know the offender.
Another problem for victims is that the criminal justice system (and society) engages in victim-blaming. If the offender is not a stranger, and there is an interpersonal nature to the relationship, the victims are viewed as being at least partially responsible for their circumstances. The crime may then be trivialized, and the victim may not be taken seriously.
Despite these problems, there is now much knowledge about the categories of stalking and the reasons stalkers commit the crime. For example, most stalking occurs between parties after a relationship ends. Some stalkers delude themselves into believing that relationships exist between themselves and their victims. However, other stalkers do not seek relationships at all with their targets. In 2024, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drawing on data collected by the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, estimated that 1 in 3 women, and about 1 in 6 men, had been victims of stalking at some point in their lifetime.
In modern times, cyberstalking has increasingly proved to be a significant issue, prompting debates about how states and the federal government should amend existing laws to address this form of the crime. Helping victims of cyberstalking has proven especially difficult in situations where the stalking is occurring across country borders as the definition and legal parameters of cyberstalking still varies greatly from country to country—and even within a single country. The widespread adoption of social media such as TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook by the 2020s created new risks as cyberstalkers used these platforms to reach out to or keep tabs on their victims.
The number of advancements in social media technology during the 2010s and 2020s and the continued prevalence of stalking as a societal issue, created new challenges for the US criminal justice system and generated fresh debate over the legal definition of stalking. This debate even reached the level of the US Supreme Court; in Counterman v. Colorado (2023), a case which dealt with cyberstalking, the Court overturned a Colorado man's conviction for cyberstalking by a 7-2 majority. The Court cited First Amendment protections for free speech and established stricter legal standards for what constitutes stalking, though the decision drew some criticism from some who felt that the decision seemed to label a wide range of stalking behaviors as protected speech.
Links to Other Crimes
Stalking is clearly linked to other types of crime, including domestic violence and sexual harassment. All of these offenses involve issues of power and control. Victims are often stalked by persons who are their current or former intimate partners; many of these stalkers are domestic violence offenders. The crime of stalking is commonly intended to scare the victim into believing that the stalker is omnipotent. These intimidation tactics are used against victims of domestic violence or sexual harassment, and they are useful in perpetuating the feelings of helplessness among victims.
Stalking on college campuses is extensive and closely linked to dating abuse and other forms of partner violence. Stalking frequently occurs after a relationship ends, and it is likely to involve actual violence as well as threats of violence. In fact, the highest risk of a stalking victimization occurs with undergraduate students or in places where alcohol is present. Victims in these settings claim unwanted phone calls are the most common form of stalking experienced.
Stalking is also associated with a history of other criminal acts, substance abuse, and psychiatric disorders. Stalkers tend to suffer from some type of personality disorder or mental illness. Further, many stalkers come from abusive homes. Women stalkers are likely to fit the category of an obsessional stalker (one who repeatedly follows or threatens another person in an attempt to frighten, cause harm, or control the victim). This behavior can affect a target physically and emotionally; victims tend to lose weight and become depressed, anxious, and irritable. Many experience difficulty sleeping and concentrating.
Bibliography
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"Counterman v. Colorado." Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/2022/22-138. Accessed 10 July 2024.
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"Stalking Victimization, 2019." Bureau of Justice Statistics, 10 Feb. 2022, bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/stalking-victimization-2019. Accessed 10 July 2024.
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