Outside Looking In: Stalkers and Their Victims

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Outside Looking In Stalkers and Their Victims

• Doris Hall, Ph.D.
• California State University Bakersfield

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Stalking (CA P.C. 646.9)

• Willfully, maliciously and repeatedly follows or
  harasses another person,
• Who makes a credible threat
• With the intent to place that person in fear for
  their safety or the safety of their immediate
  family

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Stalking Victims
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Post Intimate

• Ex-Husbands
• Ex-wives
• Ex-boyfriends
• Ex-girlfriends

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Prior Acquaintances

• Acquaintances
• Neighbors
• Former friends
• Co-workers
• Students
• Ex-patients
• Relatives
• Rapists

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Unknown

• Early on in a stalking situation
• You know someone is following and/or harassing
• But you do not know who it is (yet)
• Most stalkers will let victim know who they are

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False Victimization (FV)

• Very rare (2)
• Usually females
• Turns out the victim is actually the perpetrator
• Attention seeking behavior

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FVS Red Flags

• Come forward gleefully
• Wants to share all the details
• Expresses little fright
• Seems to be enjoying the attention
• Encourages police/3rd parties to set up a
  meeting so they can talk to stalker

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FVS Red Flags

• Many FVS have history of self mutilation
• Suicide attempts
• False claims often follow major life distressors
  or dramatic moments

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Stalker ContactSurveillance Techniques

• Following
• Drive bys
• Appearing at workplace
• Wiretap telephones
• Home surveillance

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Stalker ContactHarassment

• Letters
• Phone calls
• Threats
• Unwanted gifts
• Mail tampering
• Cancel utilities
• False police reports

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Stalker ContactProperty Damage

• Slashed tires
• Broken windshields
• Poison outdoor plants
• Cut up clothing
• Break into home

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Stalker ContactViolence

• Occurs in 30 of cases
• Physical assault
• Sexual assault
• Kidnapping
• Killing or injuring pets

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Protective Orders

• Of the 44 of the respondents who obtained a
  restraining order
• 20 rated them as effective in controlling
  stalking behavior
• 80 rated them as ineffective

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Restraining Orders

• Two schools of thought
• Yes, always get one
• versus
• Maybe, it depends on the situation

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Restraining orders (cont).

• Law Enforcement Tools
• If a restraining order is violated it becomes a
  felony versus a misdemeanor.

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Castle Rock v. Gonzales (2005)

• U.S. Supreme Court decision (7-2) held that
  respondents 14th amendment Due Process Clause
  was not violated by failure of police to enforce
  restraining order against her estranged husband
• Tragic case in Colorado.

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Dramatic Moments

• life events which are likely to humiliate or
  shame to perpetrator, stoke his fury, and
  increase his risk of violence.
• Examples include but are not limited to
• stalkers first approach to and rejection by the
  target
• Unacknowledged gifts, letters, etc.
• Issuance of restraining order
• First court appearance

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Tjaden findings

• 1 in 12 females will be stalked during their
  lifetime (8-12 of population)
• 1 in 45 men will be stalked during their lifetime
  (2-4 of population)

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Australia

• 15 of the population will be stalked sometime
  during their lifetime
• Australia has a less stringent definition of
  stalking than the U.S.

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U.S. College students

• Several studies have found that approximately 27
  of college students are stalked during their
  college years
• Possible reasons for this finding
• Developmental deficits in social skills
• Structure of college life

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Routine Activities Theory

• Three elements
• Motivated offender
• Suitable target
• Lack of capable guardianship

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Stalkers

• When compared to other criminals, stalkers tend
  to be
• Older
• Higher IQ
• More educated

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Demographic Characteristics of Stalkers

• Male (75-87)
• Mid to late 30s
• Average or above average intellectual functioning
• High School or above educational attainment
• History of failed intimate relationships
• Immigration may be a risk factor (10)
• Prior psychiatric history

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Zonas Typology

• Erotomania
• AKA Old Maids Syndrome
• Delusional belief that another person, usually of
  a higher status, is in love with them

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Zonas TypologyErotomania

• Subtype Male Erotomanic
• Usually from countries where the genders are kept
  separate.
• Example Tarasoff v. U.C. Berkeley

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Zonas TypologyErotomania

• Athena Rolando broke into Brad Pitts home
• Wore his clothes, slept in his bed, fed his dogs
• What did she get?

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Zonas TypologyAthena

• Two days in jail
• 36 months probation
• 15 days graffiti removal
• 3 years psychological counseling
• 100 yards restraining order
• And.

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Zonas TypologyAthena (continued)

• A guest on the Leeza Gibbons Show
• Howard Stern Show
• And Inside Edition

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Zonas TypologyLove Obessional

• Person knows that the other person is not in love
  with themyet
• Example John Hinckley, Jr.s obsession with Jodie
  Foster
• This type of stalker might be the one that
  flattens your tire and then offers to fix it.

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Zonas TypologySimple Obsession

• Basically everyone else.
• Includes all

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Stalker TypologyBoone Sheridan

• A law enforcement perspective
• Developed by a profiler in England
• N124
• Four types

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Boone SheridanExpartner Harassment/Stalking

• 50
• Overt threats
• Hostile
• Recruits family friends
• High risk for violence
• Victim should avoid perpetrator
• May want to consider relocating

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Boone SheridanInfatuation Harassment

• 19
• Target is beloved
• Non-malicious ruses
• Low levels of danger
• Perpetrator in teens to mid-life
• Police need to be sympathetic, but explain victim
  is not interested

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Boone SheridanSadistic Stalker

• 13
• Victim seen as prey
• Initially low level acquaintance
• Communications blend of love and threats
• Take very seriously
• Very difficult to stop this stalker
• Do not give victim false hope
• Victim should move to secret location change
  identity

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Boone SheridanDelusional Fixation Stalking

• 15
• Incoherent, yet fixated
• High risk for physical and/or sexual violence
• Borderline personality
• Not responsive to rejection
• Protective orders do not deter
• Refer to forensic psychologist

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Mullen Pathe TypologyRejected

• Desire for reconcilation
• Stalking is substitute for lost relationship
• Very intrusive persistent

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Mullen Pathe TypologyIntimacy Seeker

• Object is their true love
• Star stalkers

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Mullen Pathe TypologyIncompetant

• Intellectually limited
• Short duration
• Serial stalker

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Mullen Pathe TypologyResentful

• Aggrieved workers
• Feels humiliated
• Vendetta for specific person

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Mullen Pathe TypologyPredatory

• Exclusively male
• Physical and sexual assault
• Often serial killers

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Spitzbergs ObsessionRelational Intrusion

• Repeated and unwanted pursuit and invasion of
  ones sense of physical or symbolic privacy by
  another person, either stranger or aquaintance,
  who desires and/or presumes an intimate
  relationship

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Spitzbergs ORI

• Even mild forms are viewed as moderately
  threatening
• Behaviors are on a continuum
• At some point they can cross over into stalking
  behavior
• Discusses the Gray Area of when behavior
  becomes stalking

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Spitzbergs ORI

• Four different motives
• Lovers seek to care for and cherish target
• Haters seek to harm, scare, intimidate, destroy
  or seek revenge
• Controllers seek to plan, manipulate and
  contain or restrain
• Expressers display their feelings and inner
  urges as they occur without cognitive editing

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Conviction rate of stalkers

• Approximately 50 of stalking victims report the
  crime to the police
• 13 of female victims report conviction of
  stalker versus 9 of male victims
• If you include other crimes committed by stalker
  (but not the actual crime of stalking) conviction
  rates increase to
• 24 for female victims and 19 for male victims

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DeBeckers JACA

• JACA is a prediction about violence
• Justification for violence
• Alternatives to violence
• Consequences of violence
• Ability to follow through on the violence

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Risk Management

• Critical part of risk management is frequent and
  effective communication.
• If the police or employer takes action which
  might anger or embarrass the stalker
• Target needs to be advised or the stalking victim
  is put at further risk

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Red flags (continued)

• ingratiation with the targets co-workers or
  family members
• Chronic lying or excuse making
• Repeat questioning about how the target spends
  time and with whom

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Stalking Red Flags

• Chronic privacy intrusions at work or at home
• A need for the stalker to be physically close and
  to frequently touch the target
• Prolonged staring at the target without
  verbalization
• Repeat and unwanted gift giving

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DeBecker says

• No matter what you may have assumed till now,
  and no matter for what reason you assumed it, I
  have no romantic interest in you whatsoever. I
  never will. I expect that knowing this, youll
  put your attention elsewhere, which I understand,
  because that is what I intend to do.

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Psychosocial Impact on Stalking Victims

• Anxiety (83)
• Sleep disturbances (74)
• Overwhelming Powerlessness (75)
• Flashbacks/Intrusive recollections (55)
• Fatigue (55)
• Weight fluctuation (48)
• Headaches (47)
• Reduced social outings (70)
• Reduction in work/school attendance (53)
• Relocation (39)
• Change in workplace, school, or career (37)

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Risk Management Strategies for Victims

• Document, document, document
• Maintain log of all contact
• Change daily schedule and routes
• Alert trusted neighbors, coworkers, family and
  friends
• Cease all contact with stalker
• Code word on all utilities
• Have a safety plan
• Carry a disposal camera and a video camera