The Crime of Stalking
I have been an examiner for over 25 years, both as a police detective and as a secret investigator. I have handled cases of just about any type of criminal and civil (tort) violation that happens in this country. The one criminal case that has frightened me, for the victim, more than any other is stalking.
The Crime of Stalking
Who are the victims? anything can be the victim of a stalker. Often it is a former spouse or partner. Many times it is a public shape or celebrity, a child, or a casual acquaintance or a unblemished stranger.
Stalking is defined by Colorado State Statute 18-9-111 Harassment-Stalking (4)(b), as Subsection Iii, states that if a man repeatedly follows, approaches, contacts, places under surveillance, or makes any form of transportation with an additional one person, a member of that person's immediate family, or man that man has or has had a association with in a manner that would cause a inexpensive man to suffer serious emotional distress and does cause that person, a member of that person's house or the man that had the association to suffer serious emotional distress commits stalking.
o Survivors, Inc. Has published some very disturbing statistics about this crime;
o 1,006,970 women and 370,990 men are stalked annually in the United States
o 1 in 12 women and 1 in 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime
o 81% of women stalked by a current or former intimate partner have been physically assaulted by that partner.
o The median duration of a stalking is 1.8 years, but increases to 2.2 years when lively an intimate partner.
o 87% of all stalkers are men. 2/3 of stalkers pursue their victim(s) at least once a week, many daily, using more than one method.
o 78% use more than one advent to the victim and weapons are used in 1 out of 5 cases.
o And perhaps the most disturbing thing about a stalker is that 1/3 of all stalkers are serial offenders.
One of the most disturbing aspects for a woman stalked by a former intimate partner is that; 54% of the victims, who were murdered, by the stalker, had reported the stalking to the police.
The case I am most familiar with happened in 2002 and started in the Auraria Campus Bookstore: Pam, not her real name, was shopping for her required books prior to the start of the fall semester. As she walked straight through the store she noticed that a man was following her. At first she rationalized that he wasn't actually following her, but that he was plainly walking behind her, doing his own shopping. Then when she was standing in line waiting to pay for her purchases she observed this man standing near the front exit staring at her. She described her reaction, "The hair stood up on my arms and I saw his eyes. His eyes never blinked they just bore into me".
What does the investigate tell us about stalking that happens on college campuses: agreeing to a description issued by the California State University agency of Police Services, Northridge: 13% of college women were stalked during the 6-9 month duration of the study. 80% of the victims knew their stalkers (leaving 20% who were stalked by strangers) and 30% reported being injured emotionally or psychologically from being stalked. Pam left the store, walking by the man who seemed not to be watching her leave, and went home. She had no infer to believe that her life was about to change.
In the weeks that followed Pam became involved in her class work and forgot about the incident at the bookstore. One evening, about a month after the first event, Pam and her boyfriend Fred, again not his real name, were shopping in their local market. As Pam walked the aisles filling her cart she sensed man watching her. She became alert and watched the people lively colse to her. At the end of her aisle she observed the same man who had followed her in the campus bookstore. Again he was staring at her. Pam went looking for Fred. When she found Fred she told him what had happened. The two of them spent any minutes looking throughout the store for the man who had disappeared. They left the store promising each other to be very careful.
Pam continued her classes but was all the time watching for the man, who frightened her. The psychological terror documented in the Northridge Study had begun for Pam.
Midweek, Pam got off her bus and was establishment to walk home, when she saw the same man standing over the street from her, astride a bicycle, staring at her. Pam panicked and started to run home. As she ran she began to think that going level home was not a good idea. The man might ensue her and learn where she lived. In reality the man had approximately actually followed her home in the days before he allowed himself to be seen at the bus stop. So, she ran in a random pattern until she was sure he was no longer following her. She admitted to me much later that she had never looked back to see if she was being followed. She was too afraid of what she would see. Pam told Fred what had happened and drew him into the terror. He was afraid to let Pam out of his sight. They changed their daily routines.
A few weeks went by uneventfully. Pam and Fred began to relax and were even hopeful that the man had decided to leave her alone. As Pam was riding the bus home one evening she happened to look out the window and saw the man riding alongside the bus on a bicycle. She decided not to get off the bus at her normal stop. She rode until she no longer saw the man.
On their next trip to the store Fred and Pam stayed together. Pam again saw the man standing at the entry to her aisle. She pointed him out to Fred who decided to talk to the guy. Fred did advent the man and began to tell him, very loudly, to stay away from Pam. The man plainly denied knowing what Fred was talking about. Fred decided to get Pam and leave before he became the branch of a disturbance call to the police.
Fred and Pam decided to move to an additional one part of the city. agreeing to Survivors, Inc. approximately 11% of stalking victims relocate, often to other cities. They hoped that the move would throw the man off their trail. Once in their new Capital Hill apartment, the concentrate began to feel more secure. The man had been nowhere to be seen in the last any weeks and Pam began to venture out more and more on her own.
She was shopping at the Cherry Creek Mall and went into a pharmacy settled near there. As she was shopping she happened to look up and saw the man. He was standing by the cash register talking to the clerk. Panicked Pam fled the store. As she ran by the man he reached out and grabbed her and the fight was on! He told her he was store safety and had witnessed her stealing. He went so far as to try and handcuff her. Pam fought so hard that man in the crowd called 9-1-1 and the police were summoned. Before the police agency arrived however, an off-duty, but uniformed, officer stopped to see what was going on. The man looking the police dropped his handcuffs and fled. Pam ran to the officer and told him what had happened.
An investigation into the incident was conducted by uniformed officers and it was determined that Pam's assailant was not an employee of the business. Pam made a police description for the assault and attempted abduction and it was assigned to a detective for investigation.
A few days later the man, now a suspect, approached a construction crew near Pam and Fred's apartment and asked to borrow a ladder. He told the foreman of the crew he had locked himself out of his third story apartment. The foreman let him borrow the ladder, but opinion better of it and called the police.
The man was caught and identified. He was arrested and expensed with Harassment/Stalking. The case was assigned to me and I interviewed the suspect. He was identified as Michael Murphy, not his real name, and interviewed. He had the odd habit of answering a question verbally in one manner and at the same time shaking or nodding his head in the opposite response.
It was determined that Michael, a white male in his 20's, was from Boston. He had lived there with his parents, who were professors at Harvard College. I contacted his father and learned that Michael had been in problem in Boston for "allegedly" stalking a college co-ed there. The college and his parents opinion it best that Michael move to Denver and stay with his aunt.
As I spoke to Michael he revealed that he only followed women to protect them. He felt that the women he "protected" were in risky relationships and needed him to "keep an eye" on them. He could not understand that what he was doing was wrong. Michael was tried and found guilty of Harassment/Stalking and sentenced accordingly.
Just why did Michael stalk Pam? In a study conducted by the aardvark (An Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence Aid and reserved supply Collection) it was found that a clear association existed in the middle of stalking and other emotionally controlling and physically abusive behavior. Most offenders were men who had control issues. The study also revealed that the offenders vandalized the victim's property about 30% of the time and even killed their pets, about 10% of the time. The National Violence Against Women (Nvaw) Survey, co-sponsored by the National found of Justice and the Centers for Disease control conducted a telephone discover of 8,000 women and an additional one 8,000 men. straight through this discover they determined that 8% of all women and 2% of all men in this country have been victims of stalking. Until that point condition Care Professionals had estimated that perhaps 200,000 people were the victims of stalking annually. The discover went on to predict offender profiles. They found the following:
Severe parental discipline, anxious attachment and the need to control one's partner constituted a knot of predictive indicators for stalking. A study of stalkers by Rosenfeld, "Recidivism in Stalking and Obsessional Harassment" (2003) and published in the Journal of Law and Human Behavior found that 50% of stalkers re-offend.
The National center for Victims of Crime stated that all too often victims do not fully appreciate the danger of being stalked. There is no clear policy of operation for a victim to follow. safety Orders were obtained by 28% of the women and 10% of the men who were victimized. 69% of the orders the women obtained and 81% of the orders the men obtained were violated! approximately half of the victims tried to avoid the stalker to no avail. Others tried traveling with companions at all times; getting caller Id; safety systems for their homes; and counseling. These tactics had very petite impact on the offender.
Laws against stalking are in place in all 50 states; 15 states classify stalking as a felony on the first offense and 34 states classify it as a felony on the second offense. In the remaining state it is a misdemeanor. With all of these laws in place there has been no direct impact on the number of stalking victims in this country. The statistics remain nearly the same from year to year.
What should you do if you find yourself the victim of a stalker?
o Call the police and make a report. Document the facts and give the best description that you can give.
o Tell friends and house what is going on and ask them for support.
o Be alert to your surroundings, who is colse to and what they are doing
o Remember that if you are being stalked the offender has the upper hand. He can ensue you from any location to any other location and eventually know as much about your actions as you do. Once you realize you are being stalked it is too late to try and use evasive actions to try and lose the stalker.
o Obtain a restraining order or safety order even though they are so often violated. It is a way to show the emotional distress needed as an element of the crime.
Finally think of hiring a secret examiner that can devote the time and power important to documenting the facts and identifying the suspect.
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