Stalking

The role of stalking in murder and other violent crimes merits exploration because it can help to explain both cognitive and behavioral aspects of victim selection and the process of criminal behavior. The act of stalking did not become a crime in the United States until 1990, when the State of California passed antistalking statutes to protect individuals or groups from harassment, intimidation, or violence. Since then, every state has implemented some form of antistalking legislation. The behavior generally requires three elements: a pattern of harassment over a period of time, implied or explicit threats, and intent to harm, intimidate, or create great emotional stress. The media often publicize high-profile stalking of celebrities, such as tennis star Monica Seles, who in 1993 was stabbed during a tennis match. Stalking is actually more likely to occur in cases of domestic problems in which the offender relentlessly pursues a former spouse, lover, or friend.

The Threat Management Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department has classified stalkers into four categories: simple obsessional, in which the offender (primarily males) knows his victim and stalks as a result of perceived mistreatment or separation; love obsessional, which involves stranger-to-stranger stalking, in which the offender harasses the victim to draw attention to himself; erotomania, which typically involves a celebrity whom the offender believes [Page 447]is in love with her (most offenders are female); and the rare false-victimization syndrome, in which the offender falsely accuses another person, real or imaginary, of stalking him or her in order to assume in the role of the victim. Most of these forms of stalking seldom end in actual violence to the victim. Prediction of violence in stalking cases is a most difficult process, however.

In their study of 210 victims of stalking, Hickey and Margulies revised the prevailing view of the process of stalking, the offenders, and the victims. Hickey identified two general categories of offender-initiated stalking: domestic and stranger, each with its own types of stalkers. A third category involves victim-initiated stalking, or factitious reporting. An important distinction made is that some stalking is noncriminal and the fact that someone may be demonstrating stalking behaviors does not prove intent. Indeed, in American society, given the many ways that humans can interact with one another, attempting to repeatedly make contact with someone does not always imply criminal intent. A person wanting an autograph, a person wanting to meet another person and feeling awkward about initiating contact, or people sending e-mails all may or may not be construed as stalking, depending on the contextual cutting point of the relationship; the duration, intensity, and frequency of the contact; past behavior of the initiator; and the level of dangerousness created by the initiator. Some part of everyday social interaction may involve low levels of noncriminal stalking, or nuisance stalking. Nuisance stalking can, and often does, quickly develop into various forms of criminal stalking, however.