About Stalking

Stalking is generally defined as any unwanted contact between a stalker and their victim, which communicates a threat or places the victim in fear (National Center for Victims of Crime Stalking Resource Center). Commonalities exist between stalking and both sexual assault and domestic violence and a great deal of overlap occurs with these crimes. The laws in Massachusetts and throughout the country are catching up with what we have come to know and understand about this criminal behavior.

Best estimates show that 1 out of every 12 women and 1 out of every 45 men in the U.S. are stalked in their lifetime (NVAW). Stalking can be classified into three broad categories:

Intimate or former intimate partner stalking

The stalker and victim may be married or divorced, may live together or have lived together in the past, may be serious or casual sexual partners, or former sexual partners. There may be a history of sexual or domestic violence in the relationship as well.

Acquaintance stalking

The stalker and victim might know each other casually, as in a co-worker or neighbor relationship.

Stranger stalking

The stalker and victim do not know each other.

Stalking victims often live in constant fear that at any moment their safety and lives may be threatened. Never knowing when the threat may become a violent reality, stalking victims experience higher levels of anxiety, severe depression, social dysfunction and insomnia causing significant disruption and alteration of daily life. Helping stalking victims find safety requires a coordinated community response.

Stalking is a Crime
Stalking as Sexual and Domestic Violence
What Does Stalking Behavior Look Like?
Stalking with Technology
Safety Planning for Stalking Victims
Documenting the Stalking
Sources

Stalking is a Crime

Legal and clinical definitions of stalking vary from state to state. Under Massachusetts law, stalking is defined in two parts. First, stalking is a willful and malicious pattern of conduct that seriously alarms and would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress. (MA General Laws, Chapter 265: Section 43) Second, like many other states, Massachusetts’ stalking law also requires that a stalker directly threaten a victim.

In the National Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey, fewer than half of all stalking victims reported that their stalkers directly threatened them. Therefore the second requirement of the law makes proving a stalking case more difficult and excludes a large number of stalking victims from filing charges. To address this gap, Massachusetts passed a criminal harassment law in 2000 intended to protect stalking victims in cases where there is no clear threat made by the stalker. The law allows for prosecution of “criminal harassment” when a stalker engages in a pattern of harassing conduct but does not directly threaten the victim. (MA General Law, Chapter 265, Section 43A) Now, even victims who are not specifically threatened may see their cases prosecuted in Massachusetts.

Jane Doe Inc. supports the creation of a new law, An Act to Prevent Harassment and Witness Intimidation (formerly Act to Establish a Sexual Assault & Stalking Protective Order). The purpose of this legislation is to fill an unacceptable and dangerous gap in protection for these victims by providing a civil remedy requiring the offender to stay away from and to not contact the victim. By closely mirroring the protections offered by MGL c.209A, the legislation aims to provide an effective civil remedy for those victims who do not meet the relationship requirements of MGL c.209A.

Stalking as Sexual and Domestic Violence

Research shows an enormous overlap between stalking and sexual and domestic violence. The National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAW) survey found that:

• 76% of female stalking murder victims had been stalked by their intimate partner.

Of the women surveyed who were stalked by an intimate partner:

• 67% had also been physically abused by that same partner.

Although sexual assault and domestic violence victims might not use the word stalking to describe their experiences, a perpetrator’s behavior often involves stalking. The same patterns of power and control appear in both contexts.

What Does Stalking Behavior Look Like?

Stalking behavior includes a full range of activities. With 78% of stalkers using more than one manner of approach, activities can range from very subtle behavior to extreme and outrageous acts that might sound unbelievable to those less familiar with stalking. A stalker might engage in only one form of stalking behavior while another might engage in a wide variety of different and unpredictable stalking activities.

Celebrity stalking, while very serious, accounts for a small percentage of all stalking cases. Most stalking cases are in the context of domestic violence – the victim is living in fear of someone they once loved and trusted in an intimate partner relationship.

A stalker’s behavior might include:

• Following
• Waiting outside of a home or workplace
• Making harassing or persistent phone calls
• Sending letters or emails
• Sending unwanted gifts or flowers
• Contacting, threatening, or harassing friends and family
• Hurting or killing pets
• Vandalizing property
• Manipulative behavior, for example, threatening suicide in order to force contact
• Spreading lies about a victim, for example, filing false reports, posting or distributing personal or false information
• Collecting information about the victim’s personal life and habits
• Subscribing to services in the victim’s name
• Interfering with utilities or services, for example, having phone service disconnected
• Impersonating the victim or family member
• Accessing personal information through computer files or email accounts

Stalking with Technology

Access to the Internet and familiarity with new electronic technologies is increasingly common for most households, campuses and workplaces. This technology provides stalkers another means for finding, contacting and harassing their victims. While using technology to stalk does not involve physical contact, it is no less threatening than physical stalking. Campus and workplace policies as well as community responses need to take seriously the protections from and responses to these stalking tactics.

Stalking via technology can take many forms, such as:

• accessing or interfering with computer files and/or emails
• sending threatening correspondence via email
• tracking activities and movement through GPS (global positioning satellite) technology
• taking photo/video images without consent and/or transmitting those images through the internet or other channels

For more information on Internet and Computer Safety and steps you can take for your safety, click here.

To learn more about this issue or for additional safety planning information, go to the The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) web site at www.nnedvfund.org. The NNEDV Fund runs “Safety Net: the National Safe and Strategic Technology Project” to educate victims of stalking and domestic/sexual violence, their advocates, and the general public on ways to use technology strategically to help escape violence and find safety.

More information is also available at the National Center for Victims of crime Stalking Resource Center at www.ncvc.org/src or
http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_People196.

Safety Planning for Stalking Victims

It is important that every victim create a personalized, detailed safety plan with the help of an experienced advocate or crisis counselor. Through this discussion, the victim and crisis counselor can identify people and practices that will help keep the victim safe.

The following are some specific suggestions:

Safety at Home and Personal Safety

• Check with the local police department. They may have a burglary division, crime prevention unit, or specially trained personnel who will conduct a security check around your residence and recommend measures to improve security.

• Secure all windows and door locks. Check the local hardware store for reinforcements, such as special window frame tools that prevent windows from opening more than a few inches.

• Be aware of places where a stalker could hide. Trim shrubbery, install outdoor lighting and check to be sure existing lighting works.

• If the apartment building has security staff, provide them with photo or description of stalker and copy of a restraining order if appropriate.

• Arrange for someone to check in with you at agreed-upon times.

• Involve others you trust, such as landlord and neighbors. Ask for their help keeping you safe. Provide them with a photo or description of the stalker and copies of restraining order if you have one.

• If you receive harassing phone calls or emails, work with your telephone or internet service providers to find out options for preserving evidence of the messages and filtering new messages. If you can afford two phone lines, consider getting a second line and give that number only to people you trust. Filter all calls on the first line through an answering machine or voicemail. This way, the stalker will continue to use the old line rather than trying to track your new number. You can avoid answering the stalker’s calls and still capture the messages as evidence.

• In most areas (for less than the cost of a second telephone line) you can get a service called RingMate. RingMate provides a second telephone number that rings with a different sound. A victim can give the new number to friends and family and choose to not answer the old number, or have an answering machine pick it up.

• Trace harassing phone calls with “Call Trace” (*57 on a touch tone phone or 1157 on a rotary phone) immediately after receiving one.

• Block your phone lines from Caller ID so your name and number cannot be revealed when placing calls. Make sure your number is unlisted and unpublished.

• Contact the police before opening any suspicious or unexpected packages, especially with unfamiliar return address.

• Use a private mail box such as through Mail Boxes Etc. to secure mail privacy. Remember to destroy discarded mail.

• You may be eligible for the Address Confidentiality Program (ACP). The ACP serves as a confidential mail forwarding system for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The substitute address is used as the victim’s legal residence, as well as work and/or school address. Consequently, government records may be disclosed to the public without identifying the victim’s new location. For more information call the ACP at (617) 727-3261 or (866) SAFE-ADD.

Safety at Work or School

• Identify people at work whom you feel safe telling about the stalking.

• If the building has security personnel, provide them with a photo or description of the stalker and copy of the restraining order if appropriate.

• Involve your supervisor and building security in developing a plan for safely arriving and departing each day. Consider varying your departure and arrival times, and the route that you take to and from work. If possible, notify someone when you are leaving to look out for you.

• When possible, maintain a full tank of gas. Have an emergency plan and think about what you will do and where you will go, such as driving to a police station, if something happens on the way home from work.

• Ensure that your calls and mail received at work are strictly screened. Save copies of harassing e-mail at work.

• Use different routes when traveling to and from home, school or work.

• Talk to campus police, administrators, staff, and your resident assistant about your situation. Ask them to work with you to keep you safe and keep your personal information, such as your class schedule, secure.

• Accompany children to and from school bus stops.

• Remove residential address and phone number from checks.

• Carry a cellular phone. Many local domestic violence and sexual assault organizations provide victims free cellular phones that are programmed to dial 911 and SafeLink, the 24-hour Massachusetts statewide domestic violence hotline. Contact SafeLink at 1-877-785-2020 for more information.

Safety at Court

• Ask the victim advocate about a safe place where you can wait until your case is called.

• Talk with a court officer or police officer and arrange for an escort to your car or public transportation.

• Ask the judge to keep the defendant in the courtroom for a few extra minutes until you are safely on your way.

• Request that your address and phone number be impounded on all court documents.

• You may be eligible for the Address Confidentiality Program (ACP). The ACP serves as a confidential mail forwarding system for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The substitute address is used as the victim’s legal residence, as well as work and/or school address. Consequently, government records may be disclosed to the public without identifying the victim’s new location. For more information call the ACP at (617) 727-3261 or (866) SAFE-ADD.

Documenting the Stalking

It is critical for all victims of stalking to keep a log, or diary of stalking incidents and behavior. The log should include information about any event that the victim believes to be tied to the stalking. Recording this information will help document the behavior for restraining order applications, divorce and child custody cases, or criminal prosecution.

Keep the log or notebook in a safe place, with a photo of the stalker, photocopies of restraining orders, letters or email printouts, and any other evidence of the stalking. When deciding what information to enter in the log, keep in mind that the log might one day be used as evidence in court and/or be seen by the stalker.

A log should include the following information about the stalker, if known:

• Stalker’s name and any aliases
• Address
• Date of birth
• Social security number
• Physical description
• Auto information
• Known hangouts
• Criminal history
• History of violence
• Access to weapons
• Photo(s)

The log should also include the following about each stalking incident and/or stalking behavior:

• Date
• Location
• Description of incident or behavior
• Names and contact information for witnesses
• Any action the victim took (calling police or friend)
• Name, badge number or identifying information for anyone the victim reports an incident to, if applicable (even if police do not make an arrest, a victim can ask officers to make a report of the incident and provide her with a copy)

The log should also include any information the victim feels would help authorities identify or locate the stalker.

For more information and helpful resources for victims and providers about stalking, please go to the National Center for Victims of Crime Stalking Resource Center at www.ncvc.org/src.

Sources

National Center for Victims of Crime Stalking Resource Center (http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/Main.aspx).

Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes, “Stalking in America: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey,” National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Research in Brief (April 1998).

Blauuw. et al. "The Toll of Stalking," Journal of Interpersonal Violence (2002).

McFarlane et al. "Stalking and Intimate Partner Femicide," Homicide Studies (1999).

Mohandie et al. "The RECON Typology of Stalking: Reliability and Validity Based Upon a Large Sample of North American Stalkers." In Press, Journal of Forensic Sciences (2006).

Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Antistalking Legislation,” Attorney General’s First Annual Report to Congress under the Violence Against Women Act, National Institute of Justice Research Report (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, April 1996).

“Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Antistalking Legislation,” National Institute of Justice Research Report (April 1996).