The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report: Document Title: Stalking Laws and Implementation Practices: A National Review for Policymakers and Practitioners Author(s): Neal Miller Document No.: 197066 Date Received: October 24, 2002 Award Number: 97-WT-VX-0007 This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally- funded grant final report available electronically in addition to traditional paper copies. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Institute for Law and Justice 1018 Duke Street Alexandria, Virginia 22314 Phone: 703-684-5300 Fax: 703-739-5533 i http://www. ilj .org -- PROPERTY OF National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS). t'Y- Box 6000 Rockville, MD 20849-6000 fl-- Stalking Laws and Implementation Practices: A 0 National Review for Policymakers and Practitioners Neal Miller October 2001 Prepared under a grant from the National Institute of Justice to the Institute for Law and Justice (ILJ), grant no. 97-WT-VX-0007 Any opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Justice or ILJ. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Acknowledgements Many individuals assisted the research and report writing in a variety of ways, including granting access to local programs and staff, answering numerous questions about what they are doing and why; providing documents and reports; and reviewing draft reports. Among those whose help I gratefully recognize are the following individuals. Diedra Bialo-Padin, Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office Howard Black, DVERT, Colorado Springs Colorado Greg Boles, Los Angeles Police Department Anthony Colarusso, Dover: New Hampshire Police Department Melissa Collins, Safe Horimns, New York City Joseph Davis, San Diego State University Anna Guzman, San Diego Probation Department Kate Killeen, California District Attorneys Association Wayne Maxey, San Diego District Attorney’s Office J. Reid Meloy, San Diego, California Eugene Rugala, Federal Bureau of Investigation Rhonda Saunders, Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office Brian Spitzberg, San Diego State University a Gail Strack, San Diego City Attorney’s Office Michelle Valdez, DVERT, Colorado Springs, Colorado Keny Wells, San Diego District Attorney’s Office Seema Zeya, National Center for Victims of Crime Special thanks are due Joan Peterschmidt of the Institute for Law and Justice, who provided much needed help in conducting the research and preparing this report, and Peter Oldhausen, who edited the final report. Any errors in the report are, of course, not the fault of any of those listed above; they are the sole responsibility of the author. This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Table of Contents a Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 1 I. Introduction: What Is Stalking? ................................................................................................... 6 A . Common Misperceptions of Stalking .................................................................................... 6 B . Stalking in the Criminal Law ................................................................................................. 8 Willfulhtentional Behavior .................................................................................................. 8 Threat ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Fear ....................................................................................................................................... 10 C. Examples of Stalking Crimes ............................................................................................... 11 4 Example 1............................................................................................................................. 11 Example 2 ............................................................................................................................. 11 Example 3 ............................................................................................................................. 12 Example 4 ............................................................................................................................. 12 D . Summary .............................................................................................................................. 13 .................... ........... ............ .... .. .- II . Stalking Matters: Prior Research on the Prevalence of Stalking and Its Impact on Victims ... 14 A . Stalking Prevalence and Populations ................................................................................... 14 , Research Findings: Stalking Prevalence .............................................................................. 14 Research Findings: Victim Populations ............................................................................... 17 Official Statistics.................................................................................................................. 18 B . Stalking Behaviors: Their Scope and Duration .................................................................... 19 Court Opinions ..................................................................................................................... 20 Victim Reports ..................................................................................................................... 25 Research Reports ..................................................................................................... ............ 26 C. Stalking's Impact on Victims ............................................................................................... 27 Victim Reports ..................................................................................................................... 28 .... D. Victimization Responses...................................................................................................... 31 F. Summary .............................................................................................................................. 33 a Table of Contents 0 i This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. III . Responding to the Problem: State Stalking Laws and Their Implementation ......................... 35 A . Legislation and Court Rulings ............................................................................................. 35 Legislation ........................................................................................ ,. .................................. 35 Court Decisions .................................................................................................................... 42 Continuing Legislative Action ............................................................................................. 46 B. Implementation of State Stalking Laws ............................................................................... 48 National Surveys of Police and Prosecution Agencies......................................................... 48 Other Research ..................................................................................................................... 53 Federal Enforcement Actions ............................................................................................... 54 STOP Funding: A Survey..................................................................................................... 54 c . summary ............................. :................................................................................................ 55 .. IV . Evaluating Stalking Laws' Effectiveness: What Works? ........................................................ 57 A . Determining Effectiveness of Stalking Laws and Programs ................................................ 57 Stalking Legislation Variations ............................................................................................ 58 Implementation Variations ................................................................................................... 58 .... .... ............ .. .... .- ~- ...... ~ ..... .... -. .- Performance Measures of Success ....................................................................................... 59 Effectiveness Evaluation Alternative ................................................................................... 60 B . Implementing