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STALKING
1,006,970 women and 370,990 men are stalked annually in
the United States.85
In one state's criminal justice disposition of stalking
cases, more than one-half of all stalking charges were eventually dismissed.86
Of the cases originally charged as misdemeanor stalking,
29 percent were convicted, and of those originally charged as felony stalking,
33 percent were convicted. Twenty-eight percent of felony stalking charges were
eventually amended to a lesser offense, most frequently misdemeanor stalking.87
A study found that one-fourth of stalking victims
reported financial control by the stalker. Sixty-eight percent of the stalkers
controlled the victims socially, and virtually all stalkers (98 percent)
attempted to control the victim psychologically.88
A study of female stalkers revealed that female stalkers
often pursued their victim to establish intimacy, rather than to restore it, and
that their frequency of interpersonal violence was 25 percent.89
Forty-nine percent of stalking offenders reoffended
during the follow-up period, 80 percent of them during the first year. The
presence of a personality disorder and a history of substance abuse was a strong
predictor of recidivism. However, the presence of a delusional disorder (e.g.,
erotomania) was associated with a lower risk of reoffending.90
Harsh parental discipline, anxious attachment, and need
for control of one's partner form a common cluster in the prediction of stalking
and psychological abuse.91
Researchers found stalking to be one of the significant
risk factors for femicide (homicide of women) in abusive
relationships.92
85 Tjaden, Patricia and Nancy Thoennes. (1998). Stalking in America: Findings
from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, DC: National
Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice.
86 Jordan et al.
(2003). "Stalking: An Examination of the Criminal Justice Response." Journal of
Interpersonal Violence 18 (2).
87 See 86.
88 Brewster, Mary.
(2003). "Power and Control Dynamics in Prestalking and Stalking Situations."
Journal of Family Violence 18 (4).
89 Meloy, J.R. and C. Boyd. (2003).
"Female Stalkers and Their Victims." Journal of the American Academy of
Psychiatry and Law 31(2).
90 Rosenfeld, B. (2003). "Recidivism in
Stalking and Obsessional Harassment." Law and Human Behavior 27 (3).
91
Dye, M.L. and K.E. Davis. (2003). "Stalking and Psychological Abuse: Common
Factors and Relationship-Specific Characteristics." Violence and Victims 18 (2).
92 See 29.
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