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Stalking

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For other uses, see Stalking (disambiguation).

Stalking is 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

Stalking exists in many forms. Victims may or may not be aware that it is happening, and the perpetrators may or may not have malicious intent. Stalkers may even have a sincere but misguided belief that their victims love them, or have a desire to help the victims.[1] Stalking consists of a series of actions which in themselves can be legal, such as calling on the phone, sending gifts, or sending emails.[2]

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.[1]

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.[3][4]

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. For the safety of the victims, female stalkers should be regarded as potentially as dangerous as any male stalker, in spite of the vast majority of stalking-related violence being committed by males.[3]

Types of stalkers

Psychologists often group individuals who stalk into two categories: psychotic and nonpsychotic.[5] 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.[6]

In "A Study of Stalkers" Mullen et al. (2000)[7][4] 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.

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.[7]

Laws on stalking

Canada

Section 264 of the Criminal Code of Canada, titled "criminal harassment"[8] addresses acts which are termed "stalking" in many other jurisdictions. The provisions of the section came into force in August of 1993 with the intent of further strengthening laws protecting women.[9] 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.[10]

Japan

In 2000, Japan enacted a national law to combat this behaviour, under the effect of the Shiori Ino murder.[11] Acts of stalking can be viewed as "interfering [with] the tranquility of others' lives", and are prohibited under petty offence laws.

United Kingdom

In England, stalking was criminalised by the enactment of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997,[12] 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 1998[13] 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[14] due to several high profile stalking cases in California, including the 1982 attempted murder of actress Theresa Saldana,[15] the 1988 massacre by Richard Farley,[16] the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer,[17] and five Orange County stalking murders also in 1989.[18][16] 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.[18][19] 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[18] 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.[20][21] 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[22] made stalking punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The law took effect on 1 October 2007.[23] 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. [citation needed]

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)."[2]

On a victim's mental and emotional health

On a victim’s physiological health

Stalking has effects on a victim’s physiological health.[24][25]

Further reading

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Stalking
  2. ^ a b CyberStalking: menaced on the Internet
  3. ^ a b A Study of Women Who Stalk. AJP 2001
  4. ^ a b Types of stalkers
  5. ^ Mullen et al. Stalkers and Their Victims. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  6. ^ A comparative study of psychotic and nonpsychotic stalking
  7. ^ a b A Study of Stalkers
  8. ^ Section 264 of the Criminal Code of Canada
  9. ^ Department of Justice of Canada - Review and Backgrounder on section 264
  10. ^ Department of Justice - Criminal Harassment
  11. ^ "Kin of stalking victim seek justice". The Japan Times. 2003-06-12. Retrieved 2008-02-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Office of Public Sector Information - Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (c. 40)
  13. ^ Office of Public Sector Information - Malicious Communications Act 1988 (c. 27)
  14. ^ Are You Being Stalked?
  15. ^ Stalking by Rhonda Saunders
  16. ^ a b Bill Analysis by Bill Lockyer
  17. ^ Culture of Patriarchy in Law: Violence From Antiquity to Modernity
  18. ^ a b c Judge John Watson profile
  19. ^ Domestic Violence Stalking by Nancy Lemon
  20. ^ DPPA and the Privacy of Your State Motor Vehicle Record
  21. ^ U.S. Senate Committee: Robert Douglas Testimony
  22. ^ DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT INCLUDES UPDATES TO THE UNIFORM CODE OF MILITARY JUSTICE
  23. ^ The New Article 120, UCMJ
  24. ^ UCLA WRC: Stalking
  25. ^ Are you being stalked?(essay)
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