The
History of National Stalking Awareness Month
In January 2004, the National Center for Victims of Crime launched
National Stalking Awareness Month (NSAM) to increase the public's
understanding of the crime of stalking. NSAM emerged from the work of the
Stalking Resource Center, a National Center
program funded by the Office on Violence Against
Women, U.S. Department of Justice, to raise awareness about stalking and help
develop and implement multidisciplinary responses to the crime.
In 2003,
the Stalking Resource Center
received a call from Debbie Riddle, the sister of Peggy
Klinke, who had been murdered by a stalker in California several months earlier. Riddle
wanted to transform her family's painful tragedy into a force for good. She
particularly wanted to help improve law enforcement's response to stalking and
save lives.
Riddle's
call set into motion a series of events that produced a concurrent
Congressional resolution on stalking; a national program on Lifetime
Television, hosted by Erin Brockvich, featuring Peggy Klinke's story; and a
Lifetime video, "Stalking: Real Fear, Real Crime," to train law enforcement
about the crime. In July 2003, the National Center
for Victims of Crime, in partnership with
Representative Heather Wilson (R-NM), and Lifetime Television, told Peggy's
story at a Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill.
The
briefing focused on strategies for strengthening law enforcement's response to
stalking. Featured speakers
included Diane Stuart, former director of the Office on Violence Against
Women, U.S. Department of Justice; Tracy Bahm, former director of the Stalking
Resource Center, National Center for Victims of Crime; and Mark Wynn, police
officer and stalking expert. Susan
Herman, former executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime, moderated
the briefing.
That
same day, Representative Wilson introduced a Congressional resolution to
support National Stalking Awareness Month. The following January, the National
Center for Victims of Crime launched the first observance of National Stalking
Awareness Month and supported communities across the nation in planning the
event.
For 2009
National Stalking Awareness Month, the Stalking Resource Center of the National Center for Victims of Crime launched a
new Web site,