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Stalking
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Stalking is a controversial pejorative term applied to the behaviour of individuals (and perhaps to bodies of persons) towards others which has no universally accepted definition. The difficulties associated with precisely defining this term (or defining it at all) are well documented. It seems to have been first applied to the harassment (in a general sense) of celebrities by strangers who were described as being obsessed.
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Encyclopedia
Stalking is a controversial pejorative term applied to the behaviour of individuals (and perhaps to bodies of persons) towards others which has no universally accepted definition. The difficulties associated with precisely defining this term (or defining it at all) are well documented. It seems to have been first applied to the harassment (in a general sense) of celebrities by strangers who were described as being obsessed. This usage of the word appears to have been coined by the tabloid press in the United States and has been adopted as a term of art in psychology and, in some jurisdictions, as the name of a criminal offence.
It has been applied to the obsessive following, observing, or contacting of another person, or the obsessive attempt to engage in any of these activities. This includes following the person to certain places, to see where they live or what the person does on a daily basis, it also includes seeking and obtaining the person's personal information in order to contact him or her; e.g. looking for his or her details on computers, electoral rolls, personal files and other material containing the person's private information without his or her consent.
Psychology and behaviors
The term stalking has been applied to many forms of conduct, pursued for a variety of motives, by proponents of that concept. This may be considered to be labeling by those who reject that concept (or the characterisation of a particular form of conduct as stalking).
It has been applied both in cases where the person who was said to be being stalked was aware of the conduct said to be stalking and to cases in which that person was not. It has been applied both to conduct which was done with malicious intent and to conduct which was not.
Stalkers may even have a sincere (and often misguided) belief that their victims love them, or have a desire to help the victims. Stalking consists of a series of actions which in themselves can be legal, such as calling on the phone, sending gifts, or sending emails.
Stalkers will often denigrate and objectify their victims. This can help stalkers to abuse their victims without experiencing empathy, and may reflect or fuel a belief that they are entitled to behave as they please toward the victims. Viewing victims as "lesser," "weak" or otherwise seriously flawed can support delusions that the victims need to be rescued, or punished, by the stalkers. Stalkers may slander or defame the character of their victims which may isolate the victims and give the stalkers more control or a feeling of power.
Stalkers may use manipulative behavior such as bringing legal action against their victims. They may also attempt to diagnose victims with false mental illnesses. Stalkers may even threaten to commit suicide in order to coerce victims to intervene - all methods of forcing victims to have contact with the stalkers.
Stalkers may use threats and violence to frighten their victims. They may engage in vandalism and property damage. They may use physical attacks that are mostly meant to frighten. Less common are sexual assaults or physical attacks that leave serious physical injuries.
Gender studies related to stalking
The majority of stalkers are male. The demographic characteristics and psychiatric status of male and female stalkers do not differ, except that male stalkers are more likely to have a history of criminal offenses and substance abuse. The duration of the time invested in stalking and the frequency of associated violence are equivalent between male and female stalkers. Women are more likely to target someone they have known — such as a professional contact — and rarely target strangers. Women often target other women, whereas men generally stalk women only.
In "A Study of Women Who Stalk", Purcell, Pathé and Mullen concluded that the two major psychiatric variables that differentiate female from male stalkers are the motivations for stalking and the choice of victims. Female stalkers more often seek intimacy with their victim, who is usually someone they already know. Victims frequently work in professional helping roles such as doctors, nurses, therapists and counselors. Context was found to differ, but the conclusion was that the intrusiveness and harmfulness did not. The vast majority of stalking-related violence is committed by males.
Types of stalkers
Psychologists often group individuals who stalk into two categories: psychotic and nonpsychotic. Many stalkers have pre-existing psychotic disorders such as delusional disorder, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophrenia. Most stalkers are nonpsychotic and may exhibit disorders or neuroses such as major depression, adjustment disorder, or substance dependence, as well as a variety of Axis II personality disorders, such as antisocial, avoidant, borderline, dependent, narcissistic, or paranoia. Some of the symptoms of "obsessing" over a person is part of obsessive compulsive personality disorder. The nonpsychotic stalkers' pursuit of victims can be influenced by various psychological factors, including anger and hostility, projection of blame, obsession, dependency, minimization and denial, and jealousy. Conversely, as is more commonly the case, the stalker has no antipathic feelings towards the victim, but simply a longing that cannot be fulfilled due to either in their personality or their society's norms.
In "A Study of Stalkers" Mullen et al. (2000) identified five types of stalkers:
- Rejected stalkers pursue their victims in order to reverse, correct, or avenge a rejection (e.g. divorce, separation, termination).
- Resentful stalkers pursue a vendetta because of a sense of grievance against the victims – motivated mainly by the desire to frighten and distress the victim.
- Intimacy seekers seek to establish an intimate, loving relationship with their victim. To them, the victim is a long-sought-after soul mate, and they were 'meant' to be together.
- Incompetent suitors, despite poor social or courting skills, have a fixation, or in some cases a sense of entitlement to an intimate relationship with those who have attracted their amorous interest. Their victims are most often already in a dating relationship with someone else.
- Predatory stalkers spy on the victim in order to prepare and plan an attack – usually sexual – on the victim.
The 2002 National Victim Association Academy defines an additional form of stalking: The Vengeance/Terrorist stalker. Both the Vengeance stalker and Terrorist stalker (the latter sometimes called the political stalker) do not, in contrast with some of the aforementioned types of stalkers, seek a personal relationship with their victims but rather force them to emit a certain response favourable to the stalker. While the vengeance stalker's motive is "to get even" with the other person whom he/she perceives has done some wrong to them (i.e, an employee who believes is fired without justification from their job by their superior), the political stalker intends to accomplish a political agenda, also using threats and intimidation to force his/her target to refrain and/or become involved in some particular activity, regardless of the victim’s consent.
Many stalkers fit categories with paranoia disorders. Intimacy-seeking stalkers often have delusional disorders involving erotomanic delusions. With rejected stalkers, the continual clinging to a relationship of an inadequate or dependent person couples with the entitlement of the narcissistic personality, and the persistent jealousy of the paranoid personality. In contrast, resentful stalkers demonstrate an almost “pure culture of persecution,” with delusional disorders of the paranoid type, paranoid personalities, and paranoid schizophrenia.
Epidemiology and Prevalence rates
USA
Tjaden and Thoennes reported a lifetime prevalence of 8% in women and 2% in males in the National violence against women survey.
England and Wales
Budd and Mattinson found a lifetime prevalence of 12% in England and Wales (12% overall, 16% female, 7% males).
Germany
Dressing, Kuehner and Gass conducted a representative survey in a middle-sized German city (Mannheim) and reported a lifetime prevalence of about 12%.
Austria
Stieger, Burger and Schild conducted a survey in Austria, revealing a lifetime prevalence of 11%.
Italy
The Osservatorio Nazionale sullo Stalking (Italian National Research Center on Stalking, a section of the Italian Association of Psychology and Criminology) has been active for 8 years as for 2009, assisting over 8000 victims during the time span. The researches about episodes of Stalking in Italy in the 2002-2006 time span have shown that: 85% of Stalkers are men; 80% of Stalkers is a victim's acquaintance; 80% are socially adapted; 70% are gaslighters; 70% have shown a stiff personality in affective relationships; 55% of Stalkers are partners or ex partners of the victim(s); 45% of Stalkers is between 20 and 40 years old; 25% is a repeated offender; 20% suffers from personality disorders and 5% suffers from some form of psychosis. The researches of the Osservatorio Nazionale sullo Stalking also shows that 25% of the victims of Stalking in Italy are men, and that 5% of murderers between 2002 and 2006 in Italy were previously Stalkers.
Laws on harassment and stalking
Canada
Section 264 of the Criminal Code of Canada, titled "criminal harassment" addresses acts which are termed "stalking" in many other jurisdictions. The provisions of the section came into force in August 1993 with the intent of further strengthening laws protecting women. It is a hybrid offence, which may be punishable upon summary conviction or as an indictable offence, the latter of which may carry a prison term of up to ten years. Section 264 has withstood Charter challenges.
Japan
In 2000, Japan enacted a national law to combat this behaviour, after the Shiori Ino murder. Acts of stalking can be viewed as "interfering [with] the tranquility of others' lives", and are prohibited under petty offence laws.
Italy
Following a series of high-profile incidents that came to public attention in the past years, a law was proposed in June 2008, and became effective in February 2009, making a criminal offence, punishable with imprisonment ranging from six months up to four years, any "continuative harrassing, threatening or persecuting behaviour which: 1) causes a state of anxiety and fear in the victim(s), or; 2) ingenerates within the victim(s) a motivated fear for his/her own safety or for the safety of relatives, kins, or others tied to the victim him/herself by an affective relationship, or; 3), forces the victim(s) to change his/her living habits". If the perpetrator of the offense is a subject tied to the victim by kinship or that is or has been in the past involved in a relationship with the victim (i.e. current or former/divorced/split husband/wife or fiancée), and/or if the victim is a pregnant woman or a minor, the sanction can be elevated up to six years of incarceration.
United Kingdom
In England, stalking was criminalised by the enactment of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, which came into force on June 16, 1997. It makes it a criminal offence, punishable by up to six months imprisonment, to pursue a course of conduct which amounts to harassment of another on two or more occasions. The court can also issue a restraining order, which carries a maximum punishment of five years imprisonment if breached. Already before the enactment of the Act, the Malicious Communications Act 1988 and the Telecommunications Act 1984 criminalised indecent, offensive or threatening phone calls and the sending of an indecent, offensive or threatening letter, electronic communication or other article to another person.
In Scotland, provision is made under the Protection from Harassment Act against stalking. It is not a criminal offence, however, but falls under the law of delict. Victims of stalking may sue for interdict against an alleged stalker, or a non-harassment order, breach of which is an offence.
United States
The first state to criminalize stalking in the United States was California in 1990 due to several high profile stalking cases in California, including the 1982 attempted murder of actress Theresa Saldana, the 1988 massacre by Richard Farley, the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, and five Orange County stalking murders also in 1989. The first anti-stalking law in the United States, California Penal Code Section 646.9, was developed and proposed by Municipal Court Judge John Watson of Orange County. Watson with U.S. Congressman Ed Royce introduced the law in 1990. Also in 1990, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) began the United States' first Threat Management Unit, founded by LAPD Captain Robert Martin.
Within three years thereafter, every state in the United States and some other common-law jurisdictions followed suit to create the crime of stalking, under different names such as criminal harassment or criminal menace. The Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) was enacted in 1994 in response to numerous cases of a driver's information being abused for criminal activity, examples such as the Saldana and Schaeffer stalking cases. The DPPA prohibits states from disclosing a driver's personal information without consent by State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 made stalking punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The law took effect on 1 October 2007. This law brings the UCMJ in line with federal laws against stalking. Laws against stalking in different jurisdictions vary, and so do the definitions. Some make the act illegal as it stands, while others do only if the stalking becomes threatening or endangers the receiving end. In England and Wales, liability may arise in the event that the victim suffers either mental or physical harm as a result of being stalked (see R. v. Constanza). Many states in the US also recognize stalking as grounds for issuance of a civil restraining order. Since this requires a lower burden of proof than a criminal charge, laws recognizing non-criminal allegations of stalking suffer the same risk of abuse seen with false allegations of domestic violence.
Effects of stalking
Stalking does not consist of single incidents, but is a continuous process. Stalking can be a terrifying experience for victims, placing them at risk of psychological trauma, and possible physical harm. As Rokkers writes, "Stalking is a form of mental assault, in which the perpetrator repeatedly, unwontedly, and disruptively breaks into the life-world of the victim, with whom they have no relationship (or no longer have). Moreover, the separated acts that make up the intrusion cannot by themselves cause the mental abuse, but do taken together (cumulative effect)."
On a victim's mental health and emotional state
On a victim’s physiological health
Stalking can have the following effects on a victim’s physiological health:
False claims of stalking
In 1999, Pathe, Mullen and Purcell said that popular interest in stalking was promoting false claims. A 2004 study by Sheridan and Blaauw reported that an estimated 11.5% of claims in a sample of 357 reported claims of stalking were false.
Further reading
- How To Stop A Stalker. Proctor, Mike. Prometheus Books, 2000.
- The Psychology of Stalking. Meloy, J. Reid. Academic Press, 2000.
- Stalkers and Their Victims, 2nd edition. Mullen, Paul E., Pathe, Michele, Purcell, Rosemary. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
- Surviving a Stalker: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Yourself Safe. Gross, Linda. Marlowe & Company, 2000.
- . Stefan Stieger; Christoph Burger; Anne Schild. European Journal of Psychiatry Vol. 22, N.° 4, (235-241), Zaragoza (ES) 2008, .
- . Susan Dennison and Don Thomson, paper presented at the Stalking: Criminal Justice Responses Conference convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology in Sydney, 7-8 December 2000
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See also
External links
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