The Office on Violence Against Women's Grant Funds Used to Address Stalking
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THE OFFICE ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN’S GRANT FUNDS USED TO ADDRESS STALKING: 2012 REPORT TO CONGRESS 1 Contents Stalking Victimization in the United States 3 State Stalking Laws 4 Office on Violence Against Women Background 7 OVW Discretionary Grantees Address the Crime of Stalking 10 Criminal Justice Activities: Snapshot of the Arrest Program (January to June 2010) 17 STOP Program Subgrantees Activities (January to December 2010) 19 Technical Assistance to OVW Grantees 23 Reported Areas of Remaining Need 24 References 27 2 Stalking Victimization in the United States Stalking is a complex crime that is often missed, misunderstood, and underestimated. Results of the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in late 2011, found that, conservatively1, 6.6 million people were stalked in a 12-month period and that 1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men were stalked at some point in their lifetime. These numbers indicate that stalking is an issue for every community across the U.S. The report noted that while anyone can be a victim of stalking, females were nearly three times more likely to be stalked than males, and that young adults had the highest rates of stalking victimization. More than one-half of female victims and one-third of male victims were stalked before the age of 25. Additionally, about 1 in 5 female victims and 1 in 14 male victims experienced stalking between the ages of 11 and 17. For the overwhelming majority of victims, the stalker is someone known to them—an acquaintance, a family member, or most often, a current or former intimate partner. Sixty-six percent of female victims and 41 percent of male victims were stalked by a current or former intimate partner. 1 In the NISVS report, the CDC based its estimate of stalking prevalence on a conservative definition of stalking, which required the victim to report having felt very fearful or concern that harm would come to the victim or someone close to him/her as a result of the perpetrator’s behavior. But the study also reported stalking prevalence using a less conservative definition of stalking, which considers any amount of fear (i.e., a little fearful, somewhat fearful, or very fearful). Using that definition, the study found that 1 in 4 women and 1 in 13 men reported being a victim of stalking in their lifetime, with 6.5% and 2.0% of women and men, respectively, reporting stalking in the 12 months prior to taking the survey. 3 The report also confirmed what law enforcement, prosecutors, victim service providers, and other professionals have been hearing from victims for years—that most stalking cases involve some form of technology. More than three-quarters of victims reported having received unwanted phone calls, voice and text messages; and roughly one-third of victims were watched, followed, or tracked with a listening or other device. The findings underscore how critical it is that professionals who respond to and work with stalking victims understand the dynamics of stalking, particularly how stalkers use technology. State Stalking Laws Stalking is a crime in all states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and under Federal law. States did not begin to pass stalking laws until the early 1990s, making stalking statutes young compared to other criminal statutes. California was the first state to criminalize stalking in 1990 after a string of high profile cases, including the attempted murder of actress Theresa Saldana. While stalking laws and definitions vary from state to state, stalking is generally defined as a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. However, jurisdictions define course of conduct differently. Many states define course of conduct as one or more intentional acts that evidence a continuity of purpose. Depending on the state, stalking is either a crime of general or specific intent. Stalking statutes often do not cover all behaviors that a stalker might employ, such as using surveillance technology. See Appendix A and B for criminal and civil stalking information by state. 4 Some states laws require that the defendant’s course of conduct cause the victim actual fear. However, other states use a reasonable person standard to establish fear. Some jurisdictions utilize both actual fear and a reasonable person standard. In establishing fear, some states require the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, threatened or fear that the defendant intends to injure the victim, another person, or the property of the victim or of another person. Some states more broadly require the victim to fear for their safety or suffer emotional distress, whereas other jurisdictions require a higher standard of fear of serious bodily injury or death. The classification of stalking varies widely by state. Thirteen states and the U.S. territory of Guam designate stalking as a felony upon first offense minus any aggravating factors. Thirty-six states and the District of Columbia designate stalking as a felony upon a second or subsequent offense and/or when aggravating factors are present (Stalking Resource Center, 2012). Aggravating factors may include: possession of a deadly weapon, violation of a court order or condition of probation/parole, a victim who is under 16 years of age, or a history of reports involving the same victim. Maryland is the only state with a misdemeanor and no felony-level stalking offense. Stalking laws have struggled to keep pace with rapid developments in technology. As the use of email, the Internet, global positioning systems (GPS), social media, and cell phones has expanded, so has their use by stalkers. The 2005 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) extended the Federal interstate stalking statute to include cyberstalking.2 One third of states have incorporated the use of electronic communications into their stalking statues; however, these statutes often do not include the full range of electronic stalking used by stalkers 2 18 U.S.C. §2261 A. 5 since the growth and popularity of new technologies outpace the laws (Stalking Resource Center, 2003). While many states have laws that cover stalking through electronic communication, very few have expanded their laws to include other technologies such as surveillance, the use of GPS devices to follow victims, and videotaping. Six state legislatures,3 such as Washington,4 have enacted separate cyberstalking and cyberharassment laws in order to ensure other forms of electronic stalking are criminalized. These laws often include lengthy lists of tools, devices, and methods that stalkers may use. However, these states are in the minority. Most states5 incorporate other means of electronic stalking by amending their general anti-stalking statutes to include cyberstalking (Stalking Resource Center, 2003). Capturing technologies beyond electronic communication can be difficult, particularly in states like Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, and California. In California, the crime of stalking requires a “credible” threat in which the stalking conduct was “a combination of verbal, written, or electronically communicated statements and conduct.”6 While many state harassment and stalking laws cover this new field of “cyberstalking,” courts still struggle with determining what laws are applicable to stalkers who use various types of technology. 3 Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Washington. 4 Wash. Rev. Code Ann. §9.61.260 (West 2010). 5 Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. See the Stalking Resource Center’s website for updated information. Also see the National Conference of State Legislators’ website for updates. 6 Cal. Penal Code § 646.9 (Deering 2003). 6 Stalking laws have made tremendous strides over the past two decades. In order to protect victims of stalking and bring stalking perpetrators to justice, legislatures must continue to strengthen stalking laws and address the technological realities of our time. Office on Violence Against Women Background The Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, provides national leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to reduce violence against women through the implementation of VAWA. Created in 1995, OVW administers financial and technical assistance to communities across the country that are developing programs, policies, and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Since its inception, OVW has awarded over $5 billion in grants and cooperative agreements and launched a multifaceted approach to implementing VAWA. By forging state, local, and tribal partnerships among police, prosecutors, victim advocates, health care providers, and others, OVW grant programs help provide victims7 with the protection and services they need to pursue safe and healthy lives, while simultaneously enabling communities to hold offenders accountable for their crimes. Currently, OVW administers 3 formula grant programs and 18 discretionary grant programs, which were established under