Stalking - The Crime of Unwarranted AttentionWhat is stalking? It is the offense of subjecting somebody to 'too much attention' to the point that the object of the attention feels threatened. Read on to find out the latest statistics regarding this crime.Stalking is defined under the US criminal justice system as invading a person’s privacy or repeated harassment, causing fear in the person. The specific conditions that constitute stalking vary across states, but five actions are common.
A Justice Institute study reveals that one in 12 females can expect to be stalked at some point in her lifetime. Male victims, on the other hand, occur in one man out of 45. These probabilities translate into more than a million female victims and close to 380,000 male victims each year. What triggers stalking? The FBI says a certain event triggers criminal behavior in four out of five cases. Examples of triggers are:
A stalker could blame his/her victim and harassment is likely caused by anger connected to the triggering event. So what makes it stop? A national survey revealed the a dozen reasons.
Anyone can be a stalker’s victim — celebrity or random person. But a stalker is usually a person the victim has met or has had a relationship with. This is especially true of female victims, who are stalked mostly by an ex-partner. Interestingly enough, the opposite is true of male victims who tend to be stalked by strangers or mere acquaintances. Stalkers who focus their actions on strangers are typically psychotic. But those who stalk ex-partners are likely to be drug/alcohol abusers who display a severely needy personality. Recent Incidents of StalkingWhile stalkers can victimize anyone, celebrities are common objects of obsessions. One of the most famous stalkers achieved fame because his victim was one of the most famous musicians of all time, John Lennon. Mark David Chapman stalked Lennon for months before finally shooting the Beatles founder dead. The charge was second-degree murder with minimum imprisonment of 20 years. Another famous stalker victimized an actress AND the President of the United States! John Hinckley Jr. began obsessing about Jodie Foster after repeatedly watching the movie Taxi Driver. When Foster enrolled at Yale, Hinckley transferred to New Haven, CT to be near her. Hinckley called Foster and sent her letters, trying to have a relationship with the actress. When that failed, he mimicked the Taxi Driver plot to get her attention. His 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Regan cemented his notoriety. Found not guilty due to insanity, he was sentenced for life to a Washington, DC hospital, but was given a conditional release in 2005. More recently, Athena Marie Rolando, age 19, stalked Brad Pitt — fortunately, with less tragic results. The teenager wrote Pitt letters, broke into his home, and started putting on his clothes! The court eventually granted Pitt a restraining order against his young stalker. Stalking - Types & PenaltiesThe type of stalking is based on the state of mind of the stalker. Although psychologists have clinical definitions of stalking, the criminal justice system isn’t essentially bound by these definitions. All US states already have anti-stalking laws in place. Federal laws (like the Violence Against Women Act of 1994) also exist to compound the crime of stalking. Moreover, with laws like the 1996 Interstate Stalking Punishment & Prevention Act, crossing state borders, leaving Indian country/federal property to stalk a person makes the crime a federal violation. Serious stalking could mean a restraining order or imprisonment of 2-4 years. Less severe cases may mean prison time up to one year and/or a $1,000 fine. As shown in the above cases, stalking, when compounded by a more serious crime (e.g., attempting to assassinate the President, murder, etc.) is subject to the penalties of that crime. === |
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