WUNRN
Chicago Tribune
By Megan Twohey
January 14, 2009
The largest snapshot of stalking ever done in the U.S. revealed an estimated
3.4 million victims—most of them women—who often lived with
the terror of not knowing what would happen next.
The federal report, released Tuesday, underscored what experts and advocates
have long argued but had trouble pinning down with hard numbers.
"Stalking has been an underreported and misunderstood crime, but this
report shows that it is very widespread," Cara Smith, a deputy to Illinois
Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, said of the nationwide study conducted by the Justice
Department.
The report prompted calls Tuesday for reforms and increased public awareness.
Even though every state has adopted an anti-stalking law, the crime is rarely
prosecuted, experts say. Victims' advocates say many states, including
Illinois, need to strengthen their laws, provide new protections and better
train police and prosecutors on how to respond to the problem.
The state's anti-stalking law makes it difficult to secure prosecutions, Smith
said.
Among other shortcomings of the law, victims cannot get an order of protection
against a stalker unless he or she is a former intimate partner or household
member, experts said.
"This report shows that we need to do much more to combat stalking,"
said Mary Lou Leary, executive director of the National Center for Victims of
Crime in Washington.
At least one stalking victim was slain in Illinois within the last year.
Cindy Bischof, 43, a real estate broker from Arlington Heights, was gunned down
in her Elmhurst office parking lot last winter by an ex-boyfriend who
repeatedly stalked her. The slaying prompted a state law that took effect this
month and permits judges to require satellite tracking of stalkers who
repeatedly violate orders of protection.
Experts say that stalking can be one of the more dangerous outgrowths of
domestic violence because the abuser refuses to let go.
Roughly one-third of victims identified in the 2006 federal study had been
romantically involved with the offender at some point. Other studies have found
that many victims of intimate homicide had been stalked by their attacker.
"Stalking is a huge component of how abusers continue to abuse their
victims," said Jacqueline Ferguson of the Illinois Coalition Against
Domestic Violence.
While researchers don't have cause to believe that stalking is increasing, the
report shows that the crime has become more sophisticated because of advances
in technology. One in four victims said the stalker used e-mail, GPS devices
and other cyber-technology to contact or track them. "There's now this
whole new realm of stalking," said Katrina Baum, one of the report's
authors.
Statistics on the number of stalking victims in Illinois weren't readily
available.
An estimated 3.4 million people 18 or older were victims of stalking in a
12-month period in 2005 and 2006, according to the report.
The Justice Department's survey of more than 65,000—a supplement to its annual
National Crime Victimization Survey—defined stalking as occurring if someone
had experienced one of more of seven harassing behaviors in the past year.
These included receiving unwanted calls, letters or e-mails and being spied
upon or followed. Victims also experienced fearing for their safety or that of
a family member.
People between ages 18 and 24 experienced the highest rates. Three out of four
victims knew their offender in some way; only one in 10 was stalked by a
stranger.
Some victims lost their job as a result of the stalking, according to the
report. Others were forced to relocate.
A person commits stalking in Illinois when he or she follows another person or
places the person under surveillance on at least two occasions, causing the
victim to fear bodily harm. But proving a threat can be difficult, Smith said.
"Our law is awkwardly written and probably antiquated," she said.
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