Stalking can be defined as a pattern of repeated and unwanted attention, harassment, contact, or any other course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.

It is a course of conduct that can include:

• Repeated, unwanted, intrusive, and frightening communications from the perpetrator by phone, mail, and/or email
• Repeatedly leaving or sending victim unwanted items, presents, or flowers
• Following or laying in wait for the victim at places such as home, school, work, or recreation place
• Making direct or indirect threats to harm the victim, the victim's children, relatives, friends, or pets.
• Damaging or threatening to damage the victim's property
• Harassing victim through the internet
• Posting information or spreading rumors about the victim on the internet, in a public place, or by word of mouth
• Obtaining personal information about the victim by accessing public records, using internet search services, hiring private investigators, going through the victim's garbage, following the victim, contacting victim's friends, family work, or neighbors, etc.

Source: Stalking Resource Center, National Center for Victims of Crime

A Message from OVW Director, Cindy Dyer

January is stalking awareness month—an important time for us to renew our commitment to raising awareness about this serious crime. “Although often trivialized, stalking is a crime in every state and we must do more to protect the victims who suffer from this crime. During the month of January, designated as Stalking Awareness month, the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) is asking for everyone’s help to increase awareness about stalking and share resources. Working together we can make a difference in identifying, preventing and stopping this crime.”

The Office on Violence Against Women supports the National Center for Victims of Crime and the Stalking Resource Center. The on-line Stalking Resource Center provides much needed information including: assistance to victims; various types of stalking awareness materials, including downloadable posters; and available hotlines.

Statistics from the National Violence Against Women Survey tell us that approximately 1.5 million people are stalked every year in the United States and 4 out of 5 of those victims are women. Most often, female victims were stalked by an intimate partner. There is a strong correlation between intimate partner stalking and the related crimes of domestic violence and sexual assault.

It is important to educate everyone about the types of stalking behaviors. Stalking can include repeated phone calls, following, damage to property or homes, and any other action that controls or frightens someone. Increasingly, more individuals are engaged in “cyberstalking” by using the internet, chat rooms, message boards, and electronic tracking devices to harass their victims. Any form of stalking can be terrifying, no matter what the age of the victim, or whether the victim knows the stalker or not.

Education and safety planning is critical to the prevention and detection of this serious crime. OVW is committed to keeping stalking victims safe and holding stalkers accountable for their deplorable actions---not just in January, but in every month of the year. Please display the posters, information, and websites on items that you may use during January. I thank you for partnering with OVW to advance the awareness of the impact of stalking and its tolls on victims, families, and communities.

In recognition of National Stalking Awareness Month, the Office for Victims of Crime, in conjunction with the Office on Violence Against Women, hosted a Web Forum Guest Host Session on best practices for serving intimate partner stalking victims. The discussion with Guest Host Michelle Garcia, Director of the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) Stalking Resource Center, took place on January 9, 2008, at 2 p.m. ET.

Click here to see the transcript (scroll down to "Intimate Partner Stalking").

OVW and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) invite you to add your stalking awareness-related events to the National Calendar of Crime Victim Assistance-Related Events.  The OVC National Calendar of Events helps you locate, plan, and promote victim assistance-related events nationwide.  Visit the National Calendar of Events for instructions on how to add your event.

RESOURCES

Stalking Resource Center
Stalking Awareness Month Poster
www.enditnow.gov
OVW Stalking Resources