Stalking in America and The US Court Systems
Angela J. Townsend
Ashford University
February 4, 2017
STALKING IN AMERICA AND THE US COURT SYSTEM
Stalking is a national epidemic. Across the country millions of Americans are stalked each year. They are followed without relief everywhere they go–to work, to school, to the shopping mall, to the doctor’s office, to their home—until they no longer feel safe anywhere.
The first stalking laws were defined by the state of Claifornia. Now all fifty states have their own state penal code defining stalking. The California Penal code 646.9. stalking. 2008 defines stalking as “any person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows or willfully and maliciously harasses
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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.)
According to stalking in America: Findings from the National Violence Against women survey published by the united States Department of Justice’s National institute of Justice in 1998-“About half of all stalking victims over the course of a 12 month period were estimated 14 in every 1,000 personals age 18 and older were victims of stalking. Women were at a greater risk than men. Males were 37% and female 41% victims of stalking.”
One infamous Detroit case of stalking and serial rape and murder was offender, Benjamin (Tony) Atkins, also known as the Woodward Corridor killer. Atkins was an American serial killer from Detroit, Michigan. He stalked and then murdered dozens of women in Detroit and surrounding areas during a period of nine months in the early 1990’s.
All the Atkin’s victims were found in abandoned, ramshackle buildings, all had been stabbed, and raped. They were alive for several hours before Atkins would strangle them. Most of them had been murdered in and around parks in Detroit. Some of the victims were prostitutes and other street people. These kind of “street people” victims made stalking much easier for Atkins, as he had easy access to hide and to follow them around the city.
During his trial, Atkins admitted that he had been a victim of child
Richard Kuklinski was a convicted murderer and contract killer who was born on April 11 in 1935. Kuklinski claims to have killed over 200 people over the course of his “career” during 1949 to 1986. At first, he would simply kill people who annoyed him, got on his nerves, or who he ‘needed’ to kill. When the mob caught wind of a man who killed as frivolously as Kuklinski, they began to hire him out as a contract killer. He lived in New Jersey and New York and committed most of his crimes in that area. In 1988, he was caught and sentenced to life in prison -- he later died in prison in March of 2006
The less commonly known serial killers that displayed patterns of his past in their killings are Albert DeSalvo, also known as the “Boston Strangler” and Donald Henry Gaskins. Albert DeSalvo was one of six children in his family. DeSalvo, all through his childhood, watched his father beat his mother almost everyday. He was also very abusive towards the children, but mainly took his anger out on his wife. His father would often sell Albert and two of his sisters as slaves for nine dollars. As Albert aged, he bottled his anger up until finally he snapped. He killed and violated thirteen women in Boston, Massachusetts. He broke into all their homes and strangled them with their own clothes. They believe that he chose women because of the
72 years ago, 16 year old Paul Martin and 15 year old Betty Jo Booker were killed at the entrance to Spring Lake Park. The attack made people begin to realize that there was a serial killer on the loose in Texarkana, the “Phantom Killer.” According to my source, txktoday.com, they were not the first victims. Earlier that year, February 22nd, 1946, both Jimmy Hollis and Mary Jeanne Larey were attacked as well on a secluded road known as “lovers” lane, but survived. Mary Jeanne Larey ran to a nearby house, where the homeowner called the police. However, two more were found dead on March 24th, 1946, Richard L. Griffin and Polly Ann Moore were found in Griffin’s car, both shot in the back of the head. Three days later, in an edition of the Texarkana
Richard Ramirez is an infamous serial murderer who terrorized Los Angeles, California in 1985. The media gave him the name the “Night Stalker” when he was on his vicious rampage of forcing himself into the homes of his victims late at night and committing his heinous crimes. Though he was only convicted of thirteen murders, he had many more victims. His crimes were so random, disorganized, and impulsive that the law enforcement officials of Los Angeles had no luck finding Ramirez for months as he grew increasingly more violent. (Tripod.com, 2012) Finally, in August of 1985, the police had enough information from many of his victims to release a sketch of him to the media. The sketch had only been on the news for one
In the case of State v, Evans, he was a stalker who stalked Arnold. In the case their was a couple of incidences where he raned into her on purpose, so he was charged with stalking . In the case I will give the facts, issues, and court holding.
The BTK killer was known for terrorizing the town of Wichita, Kansas. He would bind, torture, and kill his victims, hence the name he gave himself. He sought out victims and stalked them for days sometimes weeks, and his main focus was for women and young girls. According to the book, “Bind Torture Kill: The Inside Story of the BTK, The Serial Killer Next Door”, his killing spree began in 1974 with the Otero family. He entered the home, strangled and killed Mr. Otero, his wife Julie, and two of their children. He then moved on to stalking and killing six more victims in the same manner, by placing a plastic bag over their head, tying a rope or stocking around their neck, and sometimes stabbing his victims. The BTK killer was known for taunting
Now the name and Boston Strangler is known and connected to one of the most gruesome serial killing ever committed in modern times. Between the years of June 14, 1962 and January 4, 1964 13 single women ranging in ages from 19 and 85 re murdered a molested by Salvo. He was later interviewed by a so called Psychic medium named Peter Hurok’s who claimed that there was only one person who had murdered all 13 women which later made Hurkos infamous for a short time. Salvo’s ability to make his way into these single women apartment was beyond belief he never broke into anyone's place he was always let in by the women of they own free will. He would disguise himself as a janitor, repairman, or as someone they knew casually from work or the neighborhood, it always worked. He was charming, attractive and well-built and easy to talk to very soft
Before delving into the main points, the definition of stalking must be outlined. According to Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes, in their study of the National Violence Against Women Survey, “Stalking generally refers to harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at a per son 's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person 's property. These actions may or
Cyber stalking can result in penalties beyond jail time. Thus, if the harassment is proven to be damaging, it could result in a conviction that requires a defendant to register as a sex offender (Followill, 2015). Numerous employers and renters will not accept or hire someone who is registered as a sex
Morrison, Helen, and Harold Goldberg. My Life among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World's Most Notorious Murderers. New York: William Morrow, 2004. Print.
Walter Ellis, known as “The Milwaukee North Side Strangler,” was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of seven counts of murder. Ellis is known as a serial killer- a person who kills three or more people at separate locations and events with a “cooling off” period in between each and who usually commits the murders for a psychological thrill or pleasure.
Stalking is like sexual violence in that it involves power and control. Stalking is a very unpredictable and dangerous crime as there are various reasons a stalker
This psychopath terrorized the people of Wisconsin and Ohio for thirteen years. This man committed a series of murder, rape, and dismemberment amongst his seventeen 17 victims. This paper will go one to talk about his early life, first victims, killing spree, arrest and imprisonment, and also his death.
Stalking has been a label for a long-term pattern of persistent pursuit and intrusive behavior directed by one person toward another (Logan & Cole, 2007). It is a term that has been around since
•1 in 7 women and 1 in 18 men have been stalked by an intimate partner during