January is Stalking Awareness Month
FACTS ABOUT STALKING
What is Stalking?
While legal definitions of stalking vary from one jurisdiction to another, a good working definition of stalking is: a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.
Who are the Victims of Stalking?
• An estimated 6-7.5 million people are stalked in a one year period in the United States.
• Nearly 1 in 6 women and 1 in 17 men have experienced stalking victimization at some point in their lifetime.
• Stalkers use many tactics including: Approaching the victim or showing up in places when the victim didn’t want them to be there; making unwanted telephone calls; leaving the victim unwanted messages (text or voice); watching or following the victim from a distance, or spying on the victim with a listening device, camera, or GPS.
• The majority of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know. Many victims are stalked by a current or former intimate partner, or by an acquaintance.
• People aged 18-24 have the highest rate of stalking victimization.
What is the Impact of Stalking on Victims?
• 46% of stalking victims fear not knowing what will happen next.
• 29% of stalking victims fear the stalking will never stop.
• 1 in 8 employed stalking victims lose time from work as a result of their victimization and more than half lose 5 days of work or more.
• 1 in 7 stalking victims move as a result of their victimization.
• Stalking victims suffer much higher rates of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and social dysfunction than people in the general population.
• Stalking impacts diverse communities across the age, race, gender and socioeconomic spectrum.
Stalking Offenders
• 2/3 of stalkers pursue their victims at least once per week, many daily, using more than one method.
• 78% of stalkers use more than one means of approach.
• Weapons are used to harm or threaten victims in 1 out of 5 cases.
• Intimate partner stalkers frequently approach their targets with hostile behaviors that escalate quickly.
