Sexual Predators

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Sexual Predators
Are You Safe?
Erika Russell S4Presentation
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What Is Stalking?
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• Stalking can be defined as unwanted contact,
  which directly or indirectly communicates a
  threat or places the victim in fear.
• It is also defined as the willful, malicious, and
  repeated following and harassing of another
  person.

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• Typically, stalking is a series of actions that
  puts a person in fear for their safety.
• A stalker can be someone you know well or not at
  all.
• About 75 of stalking cases are men stalking
  women, but men stalk men, women do stalk women,
  and women stalk men.

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Research suggests

• 1 out of every 12 women will be stalked during
  their lifetime.
• 1 out of every 45 men will be stalked.
• 87 of stalkers overall are men.
• 77 of female victims are stalked by someone they
  know.

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Research suggests

• The average duration of stalking is 1.8 years.
• 61 of stalkers made unwanted phone calls,
• 33 sent or left unwanted letters or items,
• 29 vandalized property, and
• 9 killed or threatened to kill a family pet.

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There Are Three Types of Stalkers
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Simple Obsessional Stalkers

• Most common type.
• They have some prior relationship with the
  victim, usually an intimate one.

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Love Obsessional

• Have had no existing relationship with the
  victim.
• Many of these stalkers target celebrities.

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Erotomanic Stalkers

• Delusionally believe that they are loved by the
  victim.
• This is the rarest type.

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Other Stalkers

• Some stalkers harass their victim out of hate as
  opposed to love.
• Occasionally, stalking becomes a method of
  revenge for some misdeed against the stalker,
  real or imagined.
• Stalking can also be used as a means of protest.

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How To Recognize A Stalker
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A stalker might

• Follow you and show up wherever you are.
• Call you repeatedly, sometimes hanging up.
• Damage your home, car, or other property.
• Send unwanted gifts, letters, cards, or e-mails.
• Monitor you phone calls or computer use.

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A stalker might also

• Use technology, like hidden cameras, global
  positioning systems (GPS), to track where you go.
• Drive by or hang out at your home, school, or
  work.
• Threaten to hurt you, your family, friends, or
  pets.
• Find out about you by using public records or
  online search services, hiring investigators,
  going through your garbage, or contacting
  friends, family, neighbors, or coworkers.

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There are several traits that are common amongst
stalkers

• Mood, anxiety, and/or substance abuse disorders,
• Low self-esteem and social insecurity,
• Narcissism,
• Intense jealousy
• Morbid infatuation

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Are Stalkers Dangerous?
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• Stalking is serious, often violent,
  unpredictable, dangerous and often escalates over
  time.
• No two stalking situations are identical.
• Many stalkers change behavior over time and
  escalate the frequency or the intensity of their
  contacts.
• Ex-boyfriends and ex-husbands who stalk are often
  violent.
• Some of the most dangerous stalkers give little
  or no warning before they attack.

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Am I Being Stalked?
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There are several signs that are good indicators
of stalking behaviors

• Persistent phone calls and gifts despite being
  told not to contact in any form,
• Waiting at the workplace or in neighborhood,
• Threats,
• Manipulative behavior, and
• Defamation (the stalker often lies to others
  about the victim).

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Common Reactions to Being Stalked
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You tend to

• Feel fear of what the stalker might do.
• Feel nervous, irritable, impatient, and on the
  edge.
• Feel vulnerable, unsafe, and not know who to
  trust.
• Feel depressed, hopeless, overwhelmed, or angry.

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• Feel stressed, including having trouble
• concentrating, sleeping or remembering
• things.
• Have eating problems such as appetite loss,
  forgetting to eat, or overeating.
• Have flashbacks, disturbing thoughts, feelings,
  or memories.
• Feel confused, frustrated, or isolated because
  other people dont understand why you are afraid.

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Things You Can Do
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• As early as possible, tell him/her that the
  relationship is over.
• Inform the person that no further contact of any
  kind is allowed.
• Avoid using tones or phrases that could be
  misconstrued as implying a second chance or
  playing or hard to get (mixed messages).
• Be respectful.

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• Keep evidence of the stalking when the stalker
  follows or contacts you, write down the time,
  date, and place.
• Keep emails, phone messages, letters or notes.
• Photograph anything of yours the stalker damages
  and any injuries the stalker causes.
• Contact a crisis hotline, victim services agency,
  or a domestic violence or rape crisis program.
  They can help you devise a safety plan, give you
  information about local laws, refer you to other
  services, and weigh options such as seeking a
  protection order.

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• Develop a safety plan, including things like
  changing your routine, arranging a place to stay,
  and having a friend or relative go places with
  you.
• Contact the police.
• Get a court order that tells the stalker he/she
  must stay away from you.

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• Tell family, friends, roommates, and coworkers
  about the stalking and ask for their support.
• Tell security staff at your job or school and ask
  them to watch out for your safety.

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You Should Never...
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Communicate with the stalker or respond to
their attempts to contact you.

• Discipline yourself to avoid contact with the
  stalker.
• This includes ANY and ALL contact which could
  easily be misinterpreted by the stalker such as
• Calling to ask for someone elses phone number,
• Counter harassing, and
• Sending letters back.

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Credits

• Clipart
• Stalking. Arming Women Against Rape and
  Endangerment (AWARE). (2001). Retrieved February
  19, 2005 from World Wide Web http//aware.org/st
  alking/stalkingeninfo.
• Stalking Behavior. (2000, January 22).
  Retrieved February 19, 2005 from World Wide Web
  http//www.stalkingbehavior.com.
• Stalking Fact Sheet. The National Center For
  Victims of Crime. (2000). Retrieved February 9,
  2005 from World Wide Web http//www.ncvc.org.
• Stalking Resource Center. The National Center
  For Victims of Crime. (2000). Retrieved February
  9, 2005 from World Wide Web http//www.ncvc.org.
• Stalking Resource Center. Are You Being Stalked?
  The National Center For Victims of Crime.
  (2000). Retrieved February 19, 2005 from Word
  Wide Web http//www.ncvc.org.