It is a common misconception that all stalking victims are celebrities or young attractive women. Anyone can be a victim of stalking. Stalking victims include members of all nationalities, races, ages and genders, however most are women.
Stalking is not about romance or love. It is a crime of violence, control and intimidation.
There are currently stalking laws in all 50 states. Ohio's law regarding stalking (2903.211O.R.C.) States:
"No person by engaging in a pattern of conduct shall knowingly cause another to believe that the offender will cause physical harm to the other person or cause mental distress to the other person."
Under current Ohio law, stalking victims may be able to obtain protection orders in Municipal Criminal Court, Domestic Relations Court or Common Pleas Court, depending on the relationship of the parties and whether or not criminal charges have been filed. All the identified protection orders may be enforced by law enforcement and may result in criminal charges.
Every stalking charge is based on at least two incidents and each incident must be provable beyond a reasonable doubt.
Statute or case law has not yet identified what constitutes "closely related in time". According to law, prosecution must be able to prove two or more threats of physical harm committed by the stalker or able to prove at least two incidents of behavior that has caused mental distress to the victim.
"Mental Distress" is generally defined as any condition or mental illness that involves some temporary substantial incapacity or mental illness or condition that would normally require clinical treatment. Mental distress is somewhat narrowly defined – it disrupts the victim's normal level of functioning - it does not mean the victim is upset or annoyed at the suspect's behavior.
Without signs of mental distress or a pattern of threats and/or threatening behavior, there is insufficient indication for a menacing by stalking charge. Other types of charges may be available when there is a lack of support for menacing by stalking charges. Such charges may include telephone harassment, menacing, criminal damaging, violation of a protection order and criminal trespass.
- Eight percent of women and two percent of men in the United States have been stalked at some time in their lifetime (Tjaden, April 1998).
- According to the National Violence Against Women Survey, most female (77 percent) and male (64 percent) victims knew their stalker, while 23 percent of female victims, and 36 percent of male victims were stalked by a stranger (lbid).
- Over the course of a year, 1,006,970 (1 percent) women, and 370,990 (0.4 percent) men were stalked (lbid).
- According to a study conducted in Louisiana, 67 percent of stalking victims reported their situation to the police, 70 percent changed their usual behavior, 36 percent moved, 11 percent purchased a gun, and 11 percent obtained a protection order (Kohn, 1999).
- Based on analysis of the National Violence Against Women Survey results, it is estimated that 8.2 million women have been cyberstalked at some point in their lifetime, and one percent have been cyberstalked during the preceding one year (Cyberstalking, 1999).
- According to a study by the University of Cincinnati, 25 percent of the stalking incidents among college women involve cyberstalking (Ibid).
- A study of the relationship between stalking and intimate partner femicide found that 76 percent of femicide cases and 85 percent of attempted femicide cases involved at least one incident of stalking within one year of the murder (McFarlane, 1999).
- Sixty-nine percent of femicide victims were stalked while in a relationship with their stalker, while for 88 percent of victims of femicide, stalking started once the relationship ended (Ibid).
- More than 13 percent of the respondents in a national survey of college women indicated that they had been stalked. The average length of a stalking incident was 60 days (Fisher, 1999).
For additional information, please contact:
National Center for Victims of Crime 2111 Wilson Blvd., Suite 300 Arlington, VA 22201 (703)276-2880 (703)276-2889 (fax) E-mail: ncvc@ncvc.org Web site: www.ncvc.org
U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports Clarksburg, WV 26306-0154 (304)625-4995, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm
National Criminal Justice Reference Service U.S. Department of Justice National Institute of Justice, Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000 (800)851-3420 (301)519-5500, Web site: www.ncjrs.org
National Center for Victims of Crime Stalking Resource Center, http://www.ncvc.org/src
Ohio State Legal Services Association, http://www.ohiodvresources.org
Reprinted, not in its entirety, from Crime and Victimization in America, Statistical Overview, National Center for Victims of Crime, 2000 edition