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Stalking
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Stalking is a term used to describe a set of behaviors that has been exhibited by individuals for thousands of years. While all states have had laws about assault and harassment for some time, the first law prohibiting stalking was not enacted until 1990. California was the first state to make acts of stalking illegal. This law was passed in response to some high profile stalking cases that eventually resulted in the victim's murder. Today, every state has a stalking law which prohibits individuals from engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that causes them to reasonably feel fear or duress.
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The Psychology of Stalking is the first scholarly book on stalking ever published. Virtually every serious writer and researcher in this area of criminal psychopathology has contributed to this comprehensive resource. These chapters explore stalking from social, psychiatric, psychological, legal, and behavioral perspectives. New thinking and data are presented on threats, pursuit characteristics, psychiatric diagnoses, offender-victim typologies, cyberstalking, false victimization syndrome, erotomania, stalking and domestic violence, stalking of public figures, and many other aspects of stalking. This landmark text is of interest to both professionals and other thoughtful individuals who recognize the serious nature of this ominous social behavior at the end of the millennium.
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Stalking behavior has existed since the beginning of human history. Until recently... this behavior had never been labeled as a distinct pattern of deviant social behavior--let alone a crime. In fact, it was not until the passage of the first anti-stalking statute in 1990 that such behavior became illegal. Since this event, legislators, criminal justice professionals, and victim service providers have started to examine the nature of and psychological motivations behind stalking behavior. Still, the study of stalking and the development of effective response strategies is a discipline that is very much in its infancy. New information, issues, and challenges related to stalking come to light on a daily basis.
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Stalking orders first became available in Oregon in June of 1993, and the law was changed in 1995. Issuance and enforcement have not been standardized. Police and court practices vary county-to-county. Violation of a stalking order is a crime, and you should report this to the police. The police must arrest the respondent when they learn a stalking order has been violated. The first conviction of a violation is a misdemeanor; subsequent convictions are felonies.
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Stalking involves one person's obsessive behavior toward another person. The stalker's actions may be motivated by an intense affection for or an extreme dislike of the victim. Initially, stalking will usually take the form of annoying, threatening, or obscene telephone calls or letters. The calls may start with one or two a day but can quickly escalate. Stalkers will conduct surveillance of the victim, following every move the target makes. Even the victim's home may be staked out.
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Stalking is difficult to identify at first. Initially a victim may not feel there is any cause for alarm and may simply be annoyed by the behavior. As the behavior continues, and often as it escalates and becomes more overt, the victim can begin to fear for her or his safety. A person can be charged with stalking for willfully and repeatedly:
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Stalking