Stalking in America: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey

Abstract

The definition of stalking used in the NVAW Survey closely resembles the definition of stalking used in the model antistalking code for States developed by the National Institute of Justice. 11 The survey defines stalking as "a course of conduct directed at a specific person that involves repeated visual or physical proximity, nonconsensual communication, or verbal, written or implied threats, or a combination thereof, that would cause a reasonable person fear," with repeated meaning on two or more occasions. The model antistalking code does not require Issues and Findings Discussed in this Brief: Results of a nationally representative telephone survey of 8,000 women and 8,000 men about their experiences with stalking, cosponsored by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and conducted by the Center for Policy Research. The survey provides the first national data on stalking in the United States.

Identifying the Needs of Stalking Victims and the Responsiveness of the Criminal Justice System: A Qualitative Study in Belgium and the Netherlands

“…However, an alarming finding is that the respondents in Sheridan's (2001) study of 29 stalking victims found that the stalking had sometimes escalated as a result of legal intervention. Furthermore, only 1 % of American stalking victims reported that a conviction had ended the stalking, whereas 15 % attributed this effect to a conversation with the police and 9 % to the arrest of the offender (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). Consistent with victims' perception that police contact does not stop the stalking, a large majority of the Dutch stalkers 9 had contact with the police prior to the stalking charges (Malsch, 2004).…”

“…Insofar stalking victims' dissatisfaction with the justice system is concerned there are five important issues that reappear in studies: police and judicial inaction, fear of retaliation, fear of confrontation with the offender, lack of proper 6 treatment, and ineffectiveness of the intervention. Several studies paint a picture of a criminal justice practice defined by rather low reporting and high attrition rates (Bruynooghe, Vandenberk, Verhaegen, Colemont & Hens, 2003;Groenen, 2006;Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). On top of that, anecdotal evidence suggests that police fail to act and dismiss a significant percentage of victims' complaints (e.g., Finch, 2001;Morrison, Anderson & Murray, 2000).…”

“…Taking into account that only a part of the stalking cases is reported to the police, it is remarkable that in a significant part of the reported cases the police remain inactive. In the United States, about half of the stalking incidents were reported to the police however in 18.9% of these cases the police did nothing (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998).…”

Gender, crime victimization and fear of crime

“…1 Survey items consisted of modifi ed questions from previously validated scales and included questions regarding fear of crime and criminal victimization, including stalking ( Tjaden and Thoennes, 1998 ), sexual assault ( Fisher et al , 2000 ), IPV ( Straus et al , 1996 ) and family violence ( Straus et al , 1996 ). The population from which the sample was drawn included 48 237 college students aged 18 or older at a large southeastern university.…”

Electronic Footprints in the Sand: Technologies for Assisting Domestic Violence Survivors

“…These works also highlight that the survivors who are being stalked by their partner or ex-partners are of a greatly increased risk of being harmed [10], and that stalking behaviour (whether conducted in cyber space or not) could be viewed as a warning sign of an escalation towards violence. For example, evidence compiled by the US Department of Justice suggests that 81% of women who were stalked by partners were also assaulted by the same partner [16], while the Metropolitan Police found that 40% of domestic violence murders in London were also victims of stalking [11].…”