Stalker Behavior

The book defined the term stalking as a distinct form of criminal activity because of its pattern of behavior that is intended to cause harm or to instill fear in a person. Following or harassing someone typically characterizes the offense. (Gosselin, 2014, pg. 290) When one thinks of a stalker the first think that tends to come to mind is someone following you. Even though stalkers do follow their victims often this is just one of the many behaviors a stalker possess. The book does say that there is no template for the actions of a stalker but there are key behaviors that are persistent and that qualify as being a stalker.

The bottom line is that cases vary and that it is impossible to predict exactly which stalkers will be violent and when. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2008.)

Stalking is a terrifying and potentially lethal crime that seems to be on the rise in recent years. While the act itself can be displayed in a variety of ways with many different motivations, the effects on the victims always result in some sort of fear, anxiety, and paranoia among others, along with crippling the victim financially. The media portrayal of stalking can lead to misconceptions about the crime and minizations of the behavior by the general public can lead to a secondary victimization and cause the crime to go unreported. Although anti-stalking laws exist they vary from state to state and may not always provide the adequate of protection, even a person convicted of stalking will only serve a year or less in prison if no other charges

The first step in studying a phenomenon such as stalking is to con¬duct descriptive and correlational studies that provide information on how and why stalking occurs. Another important area of study is the analysis of antecedents, or early signs of stalking, that might be used to pre¬dict the behavior in specific situations or in certain individuals. In this con¬text, early signs of stalking constitute either of the following: (a) problem behaviors in the social relationships of children or adolescents that could be viewed as early manifestations of obsessional following in a specific instance, or (b) childhood risk factors that suggest someone might stalk another person later in life. One reason for exploring the potential

Directed at a specific person or persons; 2. Which seriously alarms, annoys, intimidates or harasses the person or persons; and 3. Which serves no legitimate purpose” (Holmes, 1993). Stalking tackles numerous structures including telephone calls, mail, online, and face-to-face confrontations. Some of the different types of stalkers include criminal stalkers, erotomanic stalkers, psychopathic personality stalker, celebrity stalker, lust stalkers, hit stalkers, domestic stalkers, and political stalkers. Lets start with erotomanic stalkers. This is an individual that endures deranged convictions that another individual loves him. The celebrity and criminal stalkers are both pretty self-explanatory: one is a criminal and the other stalks celebrities. The lust stalker is enticed by unreasonable feelings of sexual predacity and claims their prey based on optimal characteristics; such as body type, looks, personality, or job related desires. The hit stalker is similar to a hit man; they are hired to kill people. The domestic stalker is someone who lurks after someone from their past; such as an ex. Lastly the political stalker is someone who stalks a stranger that holds a role in office: such as the president, a mayor, or

Mark McLeod would fall under the erotomanic stalker category. In this case, the stalker is fixed on the fact that the victim is in love with them, even though Miley

Stalking is defined as a pattern of criminal conduct inflicted by an offender on an unwilling target who becomes fearful for his or her own safety. Illegal acts include intimidating, harassing, and threatening behaviors that would make a reasonable person afraid for impending bodily harm. Before the term stalking was coined, these intolerable intrusions were not taken seriously by authorities unless and until physical injuries were inflicted. There are two types of victim-offender relationships for most complaints. One is celebrity stalking, which is publicized if an attack followed by an arrest takes place. Another, the more common type, is prior relationships, which can emerge between professionals and their clients, employers and employees

Stalkers are classified into different categories such as simple obsession, love obsession, erotomania and false victimization syndrome. Erotomania is when the person who is

Characteristics of a stalking case and the individuals involved impact the decision to convict stalking perpetrators in the court- room. Research on factors that influence courtroom decision- making involving stalking cases has typically employed a vignette design or a mock juror design, with some of this research aiming to increase the effectiveness of state stalking legislation (Dunlap, Hodell, Golding, & Wasarhaley, 2012; Dunlap et al., 2015). With regard to vignette studies, Scott, Rajakaruna, Sheridan, and Sleath (2014) studied the influence of prior relationship and severity of stalking behavior on perceptions of stalking. They found that a stalker’s behavior (e.g., an ambiguous, low-level, or high-level offense) would be more likely

He knocked on her door again but this time when she answered he shot her pointblank in the chest. While this example is not the first instance of a stalker killing their famous victim it did saturate the media more than previous murders. A short while later in 1990 as a result of this case California became the first state to pass anti-stalking legislation (Nichol, 2006). Stalking was a crime in all 50 states by 1993 and in 1996 the United States Congressed passed a federal anti-stalking law (National Center for Victims of Crime, 1997). These laws have not stopped the problem however. According to Department of Justice statistics victim reports of stalking have increased from 1.4 million in 1998 to 3.4 million in 2009 (Young, 2013). Traditional stalking is not the only problem. There is also cyberstalking. Cyberstalking has become somewhat of a societal joke. When an individual checks out a person they are romantically interested in on social media more than once in as many days they may say that they are “stalking” them. However cyberstalking is more than just checking out a person’s social media presence. It is a behavior that is disruptive and emotionally or physically harmful to the life of the victim much life

The actions an individual takes in order to pursue his or her lover has been seen as a form of a complement and dismiss signs of potential dangerous stalking situations. The romantic movies that are being display today show how “…characters in romantic comedies also engage in stalking that’s depicted as proof of true love and passion” (Angyal). The study conducted by Julia Lippman concludes how “watching romanticized, seemingly realistic portrayals of stalking behavior…made women more likely to accept stalking behavior as desirable” (Angyal). However, this can cause women to have no discernment when an individual is showing potential signs of stalking. Moreover, “when women accept stalking myths…they’re socialized to perceive abusive behavior as flattering…”

As a victim’s rights advocate and victims witness assistant here in Illinois. Quite recently I have had a rather profound experience that change my life and my focus. We in the prosecutor’s office here in Illinois have experienced the loss of one of our beloved colleagues. We never took her seriously enough about her break up. This loss has propelled me into learning more about stocking and any laws that are currently in place to address this serious offense. In the past stocking was only associated with the rich and famous. You would hear about stalking in the news media only in reference to movie stars. However, social media has seemingly help to develop individuals that form an imaginary relationship with someone they have never met. The dating services may also contribute to this era of stocking and the inability to take no for an answer. It is important to pay attention to your surroundings. If while at a bus stop or in a train station someone approaches you in a friendly manner and then begins to ask questions about your lifestyle or routine, be careful.

These behaviors include, but are not limited to: “[unwanted] repeated visual or physical proximity, nonconsensual communication, or verbal, written, or implied threats… that would cause a reasonable person fear”. A victim may also experience and/or receive unnecessary and uninvited gifts, a sense s/he is being followed, damage or threats of damage to his/her personal property and belongings, intrusion into the home of the victim, harassments and threat sent to the victim online, etc (NIJ, 2007). Between the years 2010 and 2011, the CDC released the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) in the United States in an attempt to examine the rates of intimate partner/sexual violence and stalking in the U.S. This survey found that 7.5 million people reported instances of stalking in that year. Of these reports, approximately sixty-one percent female victims and approximately forty-four percent male victims reported stalking by a current or former intimate partner. It has been estimated that one in six females (fifteen percent) and one in nineteen males (six percent) have been stalked in their lifetime (Victims of Crime, 2012). From the same survey, it was found that of the reported female victims approximately twenty-four percent were stalked by an acquaintance and approximately thirteen percent were stalked by a complete stranger (NIJ, 2007). This data suggests the large percentile difference between the relationship-types of the victim and perpetrator. Other sources reveal the average number of attempts stalking by the

As with traditional stalking, Cyberstalking has a couple ideas in regards to etiology and psychological explanation (Pittaro, 2007). McFarlane and Bocij (2005) fully agree that there are common tendencies between online (cyber) and offline (traditional) stalking, but the one myth that remains constant throughout research is that Cyberstalkers develop behavioral issues due to mental abnormalities (Pittaro, 2007). These mental abnormalities do not usually differ from person to person; rather many hold the same signs and symptoms seen in Clerambaults Syndrome, also known as Erotomania. The DSM-V (2015) defines this diagnosis as a delusional disorder that “commonly affects the person emotionally and mentally, making them believe that a person

When dealing with harassment and stalking it is important to for the victim to understand that the more evidence that they are able to give to a judge or jury the more the chances are that they will be able to gain a conviction in their case (Bureau of Justice, 2009). A larger number of victims do not understand that harassment and stalking statue require that there be prof that the events happened more than once and also require that the defendant should be charge by the manor of stalking that occurs such as banishing a weapon or braking court orders and probation by contraction the victim in any way (TCA 39-17-315).