Stalking
What is stalking?
While legal definitions of stalking vary from one jurisdiction to another, a good working definition of stalking is a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.
Stalking Victimization
6.6 million people are stalked in one year in the United States.
1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men have experienced stalking victimization at some point during their lifetime in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.
The majority of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know. 66% of female victims and 41% of male victims of stalking are stalked by a current or former intimate partner.
More than half of female victims and more than 1/3 of male victims of stalking indicated that they were stalked before the age of 25.
About 1 in 5 female victims and 1 in 14 male victims experienced stalking between the ages of 11 and 17.
46% of stalking victims experience at least one unwanted contact per week.
11% of stalking victims have been stalked for 5 years or more.
Impact of Stalking on victims
46% of stalking victims fear not knowing what will happen next.
29% of stalking victims fear the stalking will never stop.
1 in 8 employed stalking victims lose time from work as a result of their victimization and more than half lose 5 days of work or more.
1 in 7 stalking victims move as a result of their victimization.
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The prevalence of anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction, and severe depression is much higher among stalking victims than the general population, especially if the stalking involves being followed or having one’s property destroyed.