SAFETY ALERT: Anyone with access to your computer can see websites you have visited by viewing your browser's history. To clear browser history read this article and follow the directions. For safe, 24/7 confidential information and help call (318) 323-1543 or toll free State Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-888-411-1333 from any land line phone and you will be connected with the closest Domestic Violence Program. If you are not from Louisiana call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.
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Stalking Awareness
Stalking is a crime! Are you being stalked? What should you do? Here’s a quick quiz that will open your eyes about a crime that happens here in Northeast Louisiana. Q: How many people are stalked each year?
Over 3.4 million persons in the U.S. are affected by the crime of stalking annually. The Bureau of Justice Statistics says each year an estimated 14 of 1,000 persons age 18 and over are stalked.
Q: How many states have laws against stalking?
Stalking is a crime in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, yet many victims and criminal justice professionals underestimate its seriousness and impact.
Q: How many victims know their stalkers?
As many as 75% of victims are stalked by someone they know. Many of the persons served by The Wellspring’s Domestic Violence Program are stalked by their abusers.
Q: Does stalking really affect the victim?
Victims suffer anxiety, social dysfunction, and severe depression at much higher rates than the general population, and many lose time from work or have to move as a result of their victimization. Stalking is one of the significant risk factors for homicide of women in abusive relationships. (American Journal of Public Health, 2003)
Q: Isn’t stalking when someone follows you? Stalking is difficult to recognize, investigate, and prosecute. Unlike other crimes, stalking is not a single, easily identifiable crime but a series of acts, a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause that person fear. Stalking may take many forms, such as assaults, threats, vandalism, burglary, or animal abuse, as well as unwanted cards, calls, gifts, or visits.
Q: Only really savvy stalkers use technology, right?
One in four victims reports that the stalker uses technology, such as computers, global positioning system devices, or hidden cameras, to track the victim’s daily activities.
Q: If you ignore a stalker, he or she will go away, right?
In studies, ignoring a stalker is not highly associated with stopping the stalking.
January is observed as National Stalking Awareness Month. This year’s theme —“Stalking: Know It. Name It. Stop It.”— challenges the nation to fight this dangerous crime by learning more about it. You can learn more by visiting the Stalking Resource Center’s website or by checking out the publications below:
WHERE TO GET HELP: If you want more information or help for stalking, contact the Family Justice Center during normal business hours at 620 Riverside, Monroe, or by calling The Wellspring’s 24/7 Crisis Phone Lines shown below. There is free, confidential help. The Wellspring's 24/7 Crisis Phone Lines (318) 323-1505 or 1-800-716-7233 |
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