EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO ASK ABOUT STALKING BUT WERE AFRAID TO KNOW
This blog will feature information on stallking with a focus on group stalking and terroristic stalking. Like all good highschool papers, we will start with definitions. Stalking is usally done to establish or maintain an unwanted relationship with another person. The Department of Justice published research in 2005 saying that 1.4 million people were stalking victims. In 2009 the DOJ reported an estimated 3.4 million peole were victims of stalking. The 2009 report also stated that stalking was reported to the police in 37% of all female homicides and in 76% of murders of battered women. These are terribly disturbing statistics.
The issue of stalking of intimate partner violence is beginning to be addressed by domestic violence groups across the nation. Money is avalible for grants from the DOJ on stalking as part of the stimulus package, along sexual violence and the disabled. One result of this was a research study on the stalking of disabled citizens. Other grant money has been used to assist intimate partner violence victims who are being stalked.
Stalking of celebrities ias another common form of stalking. In Gavin de Beckers book, The Gift of Fear, he stated that when the public reads about someone stalking a celbrity, the stalker is only one of a list of stalkers for the celebrity. Gavin de Becker's company assesses the dangerousness of stalkers for individuals and companies, although the cost is prohibitive for the average person. Local law enforcement agencies are the available resources for those who cannot afford a private agency. Resources are limited for these agencies, so stalking victims usually have to rely on Orders of Protection and Restraining Orders before any investigation is done by the police and sheriffs' departments. It has been said that stalking is the only crime where the victims must gather their own evidence. Shelters for victims of intimate partner stalking are available in some communities and offer protection to these women.
Group and terroristic stalking are newer and less well-known forms of stalking, although just as life-destroying as any other form of stalking. Unlike the stalking most familiar to the public, group stalkers are not trying to have a relationship with the victim; they want to torment their victims anonymously. Group stalking is stalking by two or more people who join forces to stalk and harrass an individual or group for a personal agenda. Terroristic invloves stalking which has the goal of forcing someone to do something or prevent someone from doing something that does not fit with the agenda of the stalkers. A victim of terroristic stalking is covered by the Homeland Security Act, although this author does not know of any cases in which Homeland Security offered investigation and prosecution of terroristic stalkers.
Group stalking has been reported as a rapidly growing crime in in the U.S., the U.K and Australia, although other nations are undoubtedly seeing an increase of this crime. In a presention on Stalking: A Crime and a Precursor to Other Crimes at the International Violence, Abuse and Trauma conference in 2009, a member of the audience stated that Australia was seing an overwhelming growth of group stalking. The 2009 DOJ survey found that 28% of stalking victims had one or more stalkers, and 6% said they did not know how many stalkers they had. It is likely that the growth of the Internet has added to the rapid growth of group stalking. Statistics on the growth of terroristic stalking are unknown to the author.
