U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Stalking Victims in the United States - Revised Shannan Catalano, Ph.D., BJS Statistician September 2012, NCJ 224527 ----------------------------------------------------------- This file is text without graphics and many of the tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in Comma- delimited format (CSV) and the full report including tables and graphs in PDF format are available at: http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=1121 ----------------------------------------------------------- An estimated 3.3 million persons age 18 or older were victims of stalking during a 12-month period. Stalking is defined as a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. The data for this report are from the Supplemental Victimization Survey (SVS) conducted in 2006 as part of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The SVS identified seven types of harassing or unwanted behaviors consistent with a course of conduct experienced by stalking victims. The survey classified individuals as stalking victims if they responded that they experienced at least one of these behaviors on at least two separate occasions. In addition, the individuals must have feared for their safety or that of a family member as a result of the course of conduct, or have experienced additional threatening behaviors that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. The SVS measured the following stalking behaviors: * making unwanted phone calls * sending unsolicited or unwanted letters or e-mails * following or spying on the victim * showing up at places without a legitimate reason * waiting at places for the victim * leaving unwanted items, presents, or flowers * posting information or spreading rumors about the victim on the internet, in a public place, or by word of mouth. While individually these acts may not be criminal, collectively and repetitively these behaviors may cause a victim to fear for his or her safety or the safety of a family member. These behaviors constitute stalking for the purposes of this study. The federal government, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories have enacted laws making stalking a criminal act, although the elements defining the act of stalking differ across states (see Stalking Laws on page 3). The SVS also identified victims who experienced the behaviors associated with stalking but neither reported feeling fear as a result of such conduct nor experienced actions that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. This report characterizes such individuals as harassment victims. These instances of harassment might eventually have risen to the definitional requirement for stalking. However, at the time of the interview, the offender’s actions and victim’s responses did not rise to the threshold of stalking victimization as measured by the SVS. Few national studies have measured the extent and nature of stalking in the United States. The Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women funded the 2006 SVS to enhance empirical knowledge about stalking (see Methodology). The SVS, which represents the largest study of stalking conducted to date, incorporated elements contained in federal and state laws to construct a working definition of stalking. ----------------------------------------------------------- Errata: The original report, released in January 2009, was written by Katrina Baum, Ph.D., Shannan M. Catalano, Ph.D., and Michael R. Rand of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and Kristina Rose of the National Institute of Justice. See page 2 for details about the revisions. ----------------------------------------------------------- ************************************** *********** Highlights *********** * During a 12-month period, an estimated 1.5% of persons age 18 or older were victims of stalking. * The percentage of stalking victims was highest for individuals who were divorced or separated (3.3%), compared to those married, never married, or widowed. * Nearly 7 in 10 stalking victims knew their offender in some capacity. * A greater percentage of females were stalked than males; however, females and males were equally likely to experience harassment. **************************************** ************************************** ************************************ Revisions to Stalking Victims in the United States initially released January 2009 ********************************** The report Stalking Victimization in the United States was initially released in January 2009. Recently, two errors in the analysis were identified: some responses regarding “repetitive and unsolicited communications” were incorrectly classified as stalking or harassment; and the population used to generate percents incorrectly used persons age 12 or older instead of persons age 18 or older. Implementing these corrections resulted in revisions to point estimates of stalking and harassment victim counts and percentages for various demographic and victim characteristics. In addition, previous estimates were presented as victimization rates per 1,000 persons. The revised report presents stalking and harassment as a prevalence estimate. Prevalence is defined as the proportion of the population that experienced an event or condition within a specified period of time. In the sample selection procedure for the 2009 report, 170 cases where victims reported receiving “repetitive and unsolicited communications” were actually spam email, internet scams, and contacts from telemarketers or bill collectors. The survey respondents were instructed to exclude these types of incidents. A total of 133 cases were erroneously included in the harassment category and 37 cases were incorrectly included in the stalking victimization category (table 1). When these cases are excluded, the estimate of persons who experienced behaviors consistent with either stalking or harassment dropped to 5.3 million from 5.9 million. In conjunction with the National Crime Victimization Survey, the Supplemental Victimization Survey (SVS), the data source for this report, was administered to persons age 18 or older. However, the estimates presented in the 2009 release were generated using populations for persons age 12 or older. The population base for the two age groups varies by demographic characteristics (table 2). Using populations for persons age 18 or older, the estimated percentage of the population experiencing stalking increased from 1.4% to 1.5%. This revised report is not a comprehensive update of the original report. The first five tables and figures presented in the original report and the associated text have been revised, reflecting the new numerator and denominator and statistical testing. These tables cover the key stalking and harassment variables. Also, the Methodology and some appendix material received slight revision. The original report, tables and other related documents are no longer available on the BJS website or in print. The SVS dataset is available to users at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data at www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/NACJD/. *************************************** This report presents information on stalking victims. Harassment is discussed where appropriate to provide fuller context. Persons interested in viewing the SVS data in its entirety may obtain the data file from the University of Michigan’s Archive of Criminal Justice Data at www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD. ********************************** During a 12-month period, an estimated 1.5% of persons age 18 or older were a victim of stalking *********************************** An estimated 5.3 million U.S. residents age 18 or older experienced behaviors consistent with either stalking or harassment in the 12 months preceding the SVS interview (table 3). Of the 5.3 million victims, more than half experienced behavior that met the definition of stalking. Approximately 1.5% of persons age 18 or older experienced the repetitive behaviors associated with stalking in addition to feeling fear or experiencing behaviors that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. About 0.9% of persons age 18 or older were classified as victims of harassment who experienced a course of conduct consistent with stalking but who did not report feeling fear. Many victims of stalking reported being stalked over a period of months or years, and 11% of victims said they had been stalked for 5 years or more (figure 1). ********************************** ************* Stalking Laws ************* While the federal government, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories have enacted criminal laws to address stalking, the legal definition of stalking varies across jurisdictions. State laws vary regarding the element of victim fear and emotional distress, as well as the requisite intent of the stalker. Some state laws specify that the victim must have been frightened by the stalking, while others require only that the stalking would have caused a reasonable person to experience fear. In addition, states vary on what level of fear is required. Some state laws require prosecutors to establish fear of death or serious bodily harm, while others require only that prosecutors establish that the victim suffered emotional distress. Interstate stalking is defined by federal law 18 U.S.C. § 2261A. ********************************** ********************************** Unwanted phone calls and message were the most common type of stalking behavior experienced ********************************** Stalking victims were about twice as likely to report experiencing following or spying on the victim, showing up at places without a legitimate reason, or waiting outside (or inside) places for the victim than individuals who were harassed. For example, 34% of stalking victims reported that the offender followed or spied on them, compared to 12% of harassment victims who reported experiencing this behavior (table 4). Thirty-two percent of stalking victims reported that the offenders showed up in places where they had no legitimate purpose being; approximately 12% of harassment victims reported this type of unwanted behavior. Also, 29% of stalking victims stated that the offender waited in places for them, while 10% of harassment victims reported this type of behavior. ********************************** Risk of victimization varied more for stalking than for harassment ********************************** A greater percentage of females experienced stalking than males (table 5). During the study period, 2.2% of females experienced at least one stalking victimization compared to 0.8% of males. Males and females were equally likely to experience harassment. ******* Age ******* The percentage of persons stalked diminished with age. Persons ages 18 to 19 and 20 to 24 experienced the highest prevalence of stalking victimization. About 2.9% per 1,000 persons ages 18 to 19 were stalked during the study period, and 2.8% of persons ages 20 to 24 experienced this type of victimization. ********************************** Race and Hispanic origin of victim ********************************** A lower percentage of Asians and Pacific Islander (0.6% of persons age 18 or older) experienced stalking than whites (1.5%), blacks (1.4%), and persons of two or more races (4.1%). Non-Hispanics and Hispanics were equally likely to experience stalking. During the study period, 1.5% of non- Hispanics experienced stalking. The percentage for Hispanics during this period was 1.3% for persons age 18 or older. **************** Marital status **************** The percentage of individuals who were divorced or separated and stalked was 3.3%--a higher percent than for persons of other marital statuses. A higher percentage of individuals who had never been married (2.4%) were stalked than persons who were married (0.8%) or widowed (0.7%). *********** Income *********** As with crime more generally, persons residing in households with higher incomes experienced a lower percentage of stalking than those from households with lower incomes. The percentage of individuals in households with an annual income of $7,499 or less and those with an income from $7,500 to $14,999 experienced about the same percentage of stalking. However, the percentage of individuals living in these households experienced a higher percentage of stalking than persons in households with an annual income at or above $25,000. ************* Relationship ************* Nine percent of victims were stalked by a stranger, and nearly 70% of all victims knew their offender in some capacity (table 6). Stalking victims most often identified the stalker as a former intimate (20%) or a friend, roommate, or neighbor (15%). **************************************** ************** Methodology ************** The Supplemental Victimization Survey (SVS) was administered as a supplement to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) during January through June, 2006. All NCVS respondents age 18 and older were eligible for the supplement. About 65,270 persons participated in the supplemental survey. The response rate for eligible individuals was 83%. The estimates presented in this report are annual prevalence estimates for persons age 18 or older victimized by stalking or other harassing behaviors during the 12 months prior to the interview. The interviews were conducted during the first 6 months of 2006; therefore, the majority of the stalking behaviors occurred during 2005. The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and BJS convened a 1-day forum with experts in the area of stalking and violence against women. Researchers, law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and victim advocates comprised the expert group. Also included in the group were representatives from the Census Bureau, the federal agency that carries out survey development and data collection for BJS. The purpose of the 1-day forum was to discuss definitional and methodological issues surrounding the crime of stalking, as well as to determine where gaps in current information on stalking existed and how the SVS could further the research and knowledge regarding this crime. Following this meeting, a small federal working group was formed with representatives from OVW, BJS, and the Census Bureau. The working group met weekly for approximately 12 months until a satisfactory survey instrument was completed and approved. During the last phase of the survey development, the Census Bureau conducted cognitive interviews with stalking victims around the United States to test the instrument before administering the SVS in the field. Revisions were made to the instrument to incorporate findings from these interviews. The name of the SVS intentionally does not indicate that the focus of the survey is stalking. This decision was made to avoid biasing the responses of individuals and the subsequent estimates. The respondent had to state that they experienced all of the following in order for a course of behavior to be counted as stalking victimization: * At least one of the harassing behaviors in the stalking screener * Harassing behavior more than one time on separate days * At least one of multiple harassing contacts during the 12 months prior to the interview * Fear for their own or a family member’s safety or experience of another crime committed by the offender that would make a reasonable person fearful (see the Screener questions box). Victims of harassment met all the requirements for stalking except those associated with induced fear or the commission of additional associated crimes. Harassing acts by bill collectors, telephone solicitors, or other sales people were excluded from the estimates of stalking and harassment. *************************** Standard error computations *************************** Comparisons of percentages and counts made in this report were tested to determine if observed differences were statistically significant. Differences described as higher, lower, or different passed a test at the .05 level of statistical significance (95% confidence level). Differences described as somewhat, lightly, marginally, or some indication passed a test at the .10 level of statistical significance (90% confidence level). Caution is required when comparing estimates not explicitly discussed in the report. **************************************** Screener questions for stalking behaviors **************************************** Now, I would like to ask you some questions about any unwanted contacts or harassing behavior you may have experienced that frightened, concerned, angered, or annoyed you. Please include acts committed by strangers, casual acquaintances, friends, relatives, and even spouses and partners. I want to remind you that the information you provide is confidential. Not including bill collectors, telephone solicitors, or other sales people, has anyone, male or female, EVER – frightened, concerned, angered, or annoyed you by... a. making unwanted phones calls to you or leaving messages? b. sending unsolicited or unwanted letters, e-mails, or other forms of written correspondence or communication? c. following you or spying on you? d. waiting outside or inside places for you such as your home, school, workplace, or recreation place? e. showing up at places where you were even though he or she had no business being there? f. leaving unwanted items, presents, or flowers? g. posting information or spreading rumors about you on the Internet, in a public place, or by word of mouth? h. none *********************************** Actions that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear *********************************** 1. In order to frighten or intimidate you, did this person attack or attempt to attack... a. a child b. another family member c. a friend or co-worker d. a pet 2. During the last twelve months, did this person attack or attempt to attack you by... hitting, slapping, or knocking you down choking or strangling you raping or sexually assaulting you attacking you with a weapon chasing or dragging with a car attacking you in some other way 3. Other than the attacks or attempted attacks you just told me about, during the last 12 months, did this person threaten to... a. kill you b. rape or sexually assault you c. harm you with a weapon d. hit, slap, or harm you in some other way e. harm or kidnap a child f. harm another family member g. harm a friend or co-worker h. harm a pet i harm or kill himself/herself 4. What were you most afraid of happening as these unwanted contacts or behaviors were occurring? a. death b. physical/bodily harm c. harm or kidnap respondent’s child d. harm current partner/boyfriend/girlfriend e. harm other family members f. don’t know what would happen ****************************** Questions used to measure fear ***************************** How did the behavior of (this person/these persons) make you feel when it FIRST started? Anything else? a. anxious/concerned b. annoyed/angry c. frightened d. depressed e. helpless f. sick g. suicidal h. some other way–specify 2. How did you feel as the behavior progressed? Anything else? a. no change in feelings b. anxious/concerned c. annoyed/angry d. frightened e. depressed f. helpless g. sick h. suicidal i. some other way–specify ******************************************** The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. James P. Lynch is the director. This report was revised by Shannan Catalano, Ph.D., and Jennifer L. Truman verified the report. The original report, released in January 2009, was written by Katrina Baum, Ph.D., Shannan Catalano, Ph.D., and Michael Rand, Bureau of Justice Statistics, and Kristina Rose, National Institute of Justice . Catherine Bird and Jill Thomas edited the report and Barbara Quinn produced the report under the supervision of Doris J. James. September 2012, NCJ 224527 **************************************** ************************* Office of Justice Programs Innovation * Partnerships * Safer Neighborhoods www.ojp.usdoj.gov ************************** 9/26/2012/JER/12:55am