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Stalking
Stalking Is...
Stalking is one person’s harassing, obsessive or threatening behavior towards another person. Basically, any repetitive, unwanted contact between a stalker and a victim or any behavior that threatens or places fear in that person constitutes stalking. Each state defines stalking by its state legal statutes. In Virginia, stalking became a crime in 1992. A Cyberstalking law in Virginia was enacted in 2000.
George Mason University defines stalking as a series of behaviors that in context intend to place, or have knowledge that the behaviors might place, another person in reasonable fear of her/his safety or mental or physical well-being. Such behaviors may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Non-consensual (unwanted) communication or contact, including face-to-face, telephone calls, voice messages, electronic mail, instant messaging, written letters, unwanted gifts, etc.
- Harassment, either by the individual or through a third party
- Use of threatening gestures
- Pursuing or following
- Surveillance or other types of observation
- Use of electronic devices or software to track or obtain private information
- Trespassing
- Vandalism
- Non-consensual (unwanted) touching
Prevalence:
- 1 out of every 12 U.S. Women (8.2 million) and 1 out of every 45 U.S men (2 million) has been stalked at some point
- Estimated 1.4 million people are stalked annually
- 13.1% of college women were stalked during one semester of college
Source: National Center for Victims of Crime, 2004
Stalking and Sexual Assault:
- 13% of the college women had been stalked since the school year began.
- 81% of stalking victims who were stalked by an intimate partner reported that they had also been physically assaulted by that partner.
- 31% were also sexually assaulted by that partner
Source: National Center for Victims of Crime, National Violence Against Women Survey, 2004 & Sexual Victimization of College Women, 2000
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