Stalking: A Serious Public Health Problem
According to The National Center For Victims of Crime stalking is “a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.” Stalking is a serious social problem that can lead to anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction, and severe depression that is of higher prevalence in stalking victims than non-stalking victims. Statistics from the Stalking Resource Center and Colorado State University’s Women and Gender Advocacy Center indicate the following: * 6.6 million people are stalked annually in the United States. * 1 and 6 women (16.2%) and 1 in 19 men (5.2%) have experienced stalking at some point in their lifetime in which they felt fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed. * The majority of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know. * 76% of intimate partner femicide victims have been stalked by their intimate partners. * 54% of femicide victims reported stalking to police befo