Stalking
Stalking is a serious and dangerous crime. Stalking is most familiar to us through high profile cases, cases that are memorable because the victims are celebrities like Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears and David Letterman. However, stalking is not reserved for the famous. It is prevalent across culture affecting men and women alike it is estimated that one in twenty adults will be stalked in their lifetime.
What is stalking?
Stalking is defined as a series of two or more actions, directed towards a specific person that intimidate and/or cause that person emotional distress; this includes behavior which causes a reasonable person to fear for their safety.
Stalking behaviors include:
- Threatening your safety. Following, approaching, or confronting the targeted person, their friends or family
- Appearing with no legitimate purpose at or around a place where a person can be found, including home, work or campus.
- Causing damage to property.
- Placing an object on the person's property, either directly or through a third person.
- Causing an injury to that persons pet.
- Communicating in a harassing manner through letters, packages, gifts, or electronic means including cell phones, email, and social networking sites.
What should you do if you are being stalked?
- If you think that you are being stalked and are in danger call 911 immediately
- Cut off all communication with the stalker. Once you have notified the stalker that you want to be left alone, any communication, even negative messages sends teh message that he/she can continue to engage you;
- Consider changing your phone number, email address, facebook account, and other contact information. Let your friends know that your new contact info is confidential and not to be shared without your permission;
- Create a log in which you keep track of each time the stalker contacts you in any way, including calls, gifts, messages sent through friends, etc.;
- Save emails, messages, texts and IM's as evidence, in the event that you decide to report the crime to the police and/or seek a protective order from the court.
- Trust your instincts. If someplace doesn't feel safe, find ways to make it safer, (call the police, engage others in conversation, etc.) or arrange to leave;
- Call SHARPP to speak to an advocate for resources and support
The threat of stalking is real for college students:
- 80% of campus stalking victims knew their stalkers.**
- 13% of college women were stalked during one six-to-nine-month period.**
- Women are most likely to be stalked for the first time, between the ages of 18-29.
- 3 in 10 college women reported being injured emothionally or psychologically from being stalked.**
* Stalking in America—National Violence Against Women Survey
**Fisher, Cullend, and Turner. (2000). "The Sexual Vicitmization of College Women," NIJ/BJS.
