“31 Days of Posts” Campaign is a part of National Stalking Awareness Month. Please re-post this message! You never know when something so simple might save someone’s life.

“31 Days of Posts” Campaign is a part of National Stalking Awareness Month. Please re-post this message! You never know when something so simple might save someone’s life.

More Information: Stalking generally refers to harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly[1]. Stalking is a form of violence that may lead to physical injury or homicide and may have disabling social and psychological consequences. Stalking on college campuses can be easily ignored because of today’s technology such as Facebook, MySpace, Google Earth, and various search engines. Stalking can be hard to recognize, define, and address. It can be identified as physical or mental harassment. Our target group is on men and women 18 to 24 years old on college campuses. Nationwide, 1,006,970 women and 370,990 men are stalked annually [1]. 87% of stalkers are male[1]. Most stalkers know their victims (75% of whom are female); 60% are current or former intimate partners. Approximately 1 in 4 stalking victims reported some form of cyberstalking such as e-mail (83%) or instant messaging (35%) [2]. High rates of stalking among college students far exceed the prevalence rates found in the general population[3].The prevalence rate is 13% on college campus. Women are more likely to being stalked than men. 80.3% of college victims knew or had seen their stalker before[4]. Incidents lasted for an average duration of six to nine months[5]. Female American Indian/ Alaska Native women are more likely to be stalked than other ethnic backgrounds [1]. Stalking occurred most often in residences, library buildings, and near places of recreation on and off campus [6]. The risk factors in our study are: past relationships, violence history, substance abuse, and crime history. Due to its prevalence, college and university administrators need to rectify their current neglect of stalking.Interventions may include educational programs, crime prevention seminars, reducing opportunities for stalking, and increasing informal and formal controls over stalkers [7].

References:
1.Tjaden, P., & Thoennes, N. (1998). Stalking in America: Findings from the National Violence Against Women survey. National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research in Brief. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
2.Stalking Victimization in the United States. U.S. Department of Justice. 2009. Retrieved March 12th, from http://ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/svu…
3.Phillips, L., Quirk, R., Rosenfeld, B., & OConnor, M. (2004). Is It Stalking? Perceptions of Stalking Among College Undergraduates. CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, Vol. 31 No. 1, 73-96
4.Fisher, B., Cullen, F., & Turner, M. (2000). The Sexual Victimization of College Women. Retrieved March 18th, 2009, from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/18…
5.Stalking Awareness Month Statistics. (2007).
6.Fisher, B., Cullen, F., & Turner, M. (2002). Being Pursued: Stalking Victimization in a National Study of College Women. Criminology & Public Policy. 1: 257-308
7.Garcia, M. 2008. Recognizing and Addressing Stalking on Campus. Provided by Kim Webb at the Student Health Center, MU

Impact of Stalking on Victims

• 46% of stalking victims fear not knowing what will happen next. [Baum et al., (2009). "Stalking Victimization in the United States." BJS.]
• 29% of stalking victims fear the stalking will never stop. [Baum et al.]
• 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. [Baum et al.]
• 1 in 7 stalking victims move as a result of their victimization. [Baum et al.]
• The prevalence of anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction, and severe depression is much higher among stalking victims than the general population, especially if the stalking involves being followed or having one’s property destroyed.

If you are being stalked, you may:

Feel fear of what the stalker will do.

Feel vulnerable, unsafe, and not know who to trust.

Feel anxious, irritable, impatient, or on edge.

Feel depressed, hopeless, overwhelmed, tearful, or angry.

Feel stressed, including having trouble concentrating, sleeping, or remembering things.

Have eating problems, such as appetite loss, forgetting to eat, or overeating.

Have flashbacks, disturbing thoughts, feelings, or memories.

Feel confused, frustrated, or isolated because other people don’t understand why you are afraid.

“31 Days of Posts” Campaign is a part of National Stalking Awareness Month. Please re-post this message! You never know when something so simple might save someone’s life.

Stalking is frequently undetected because stalking behaviors often are not identified as criminal

Watch this video “Links in the Chain: Two Communities Respond to Stalking”

to find out more about law enforcement and stalking.

“31 Days of Posts” Campaign is a part of National Stalking Awareness Month. Please re-post this message! You never know when something so simple might save someone’s life.

The National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics co-sponsored a nationally representative phone survey of 4,446 female students at 223 colleges and universities. The colleges and universities varied in enrollment size and location (rural, urban, suburban). A two-stage survey methodology was used. First, respondents were asked a series of “screen questions” based on types of sexual victimization that could have occurred during the previous seven months. If the respondent replied “yes” to any of the questions, they were asked to complete an incident report. The survey was conducted from February to May 1997.

The screen question used to measure stalking was “[s]ince school began in fall 1996, has anyone–from stranger to an ex-boyfriend–repeatedly followed you, watched you, phoned, written, e-mailed, or communicated with you in other ways that seemed obsessive and made you afraid or concerned for your safety?”

Key Findings
Prevalence
13% of the college women had been stalked since the school year began.

If the definition of stalking required that the person were actually threatened with harm–as set forth in many state criminal stalking statutes–the extent of stalking dropped to only 1.96%.

Victim-Stalker Relationship
80.3% of victims knew or had seen their stalker before.

Duration of Stalking
Stalking incidents lasted on average for 2 months (60 days).

Harm to Victims
3 in 10 women reported being injured emotionally or psychologically from being stalked.

In 15.3% of incidents, the victim reported that the stalker either threatened or attempted to harm them.

In 10.3% of incidents, the victim reported that the stalker forced or attempted sexual contact.

Reporting Stalking Incidents
Overall, 83.1% of stalking incidents were NOT reported to police or campus law enforcement.

93.4% of victims confided in someone, most often a friend, that they were being stalked.

Communities of color
The survey found that American Indian/Alaska Native women more likely to be stalked than female victims of other racial or ethnic backgrounds. The survey also showed Asian/Pacific Islander women were significantly less likely to be stalked.

Actions taken by victim
43.2% avoided or tried to avoid stalker
21.8% actions taken but not specified
16.3% confronted stalker
8.8% did not acknowledge messages/e-mail
5.6% became less trustful/more cynical
4.9% got caller ID
4.1% improved security system of residence
3.9% traveled with a companion
3.9% sought restraining order
3.3% filed a grievance with university
2.9% sought psychological counseling

More information here

“31 Days of Posts” Campaign is a part of National Stalking Awareness Month. Please re-post this message! You never know when something so simple might save someone’s life.

As a State Senator Royce wrote the first stalking law in the country. Royce is a cosponsor of H.Res. 82 – Raising Awareness and Encouraging Prevention of Stalking by Establishing January 2009 as National Stalking Awareness Month. Royce is a member of the Victims Rights Caucus. You can access the caucus website at http://vrc.poe.house.gov/

“31 Days of Posts” Campaign is a part of National Stalking Awareness Month. Please re-post this message! You never know when something so simple might save someone’s life.

Stalking can affect a victim’s emotional,

physical, and economic well-being.

“31 Days of Posts” Campaign is a part of National Stalking Awareness Month. Please re-post this message! You never know when something so simple might save someone’s life.

Intimate partner stalking is the most common type

of stalking and the most dangerous.

“31 Days of Posts” Campaign is a part of National Stalking Awareness Month. Please re-post this message! You never know when something so simple might save someone’s life.