Stalking Statistics and Facts

On Campuses

• According to a recent report on the sexual victimization of college women:

  • 13% of college women were stalked during one six to nine month period

  • 80% of campus stalking victims knew their stalkers
  • 3 in 10 college women reported being injured emotionally or psychologically from being stalked
  • 43% of campus stalkers were reported to be boyfriends, 25% were classmates, 10% acquaintances, 6% co-workers, and another 6% were reported to be friends.
  • 73% of the stalking victims reported the stalkers threatened or attempted physical harm
  • 31% reported the stalker forced or attempted sexual contact
• Female stalking victims are more likely to report their incidents to police.
• Female stalking victims were significantly more likely than male victims to take a drastic measure in response to stalking.
• Male victims were less likely to report being threatened or physically harmed by their stalkers.
• 26% of females and 39% of males indicated that their stalker was another student.
• Stalking incidents last longer with males than females.
• Stalking  typically involved the following behaviors:
  • Being telephoned 78%
  • Waiting outside or inside places 48%
  • Being watched from afar 44%
  • Being followed 43%
  • Being sent letters 31%
  • Being emailed 25%
• 73% of victims reported their stalker threatened or attempted to physically harm them and 31% reported that their stalker forced or attempted sexual contact.

Online Sexual Abuse and Cyber-stalking

• Working to Halt Online Abuse (WHOA) noted that between Jan.1, 2000-Dec 2001

  • 83% of the victims were women

  • 64% of the harassers were men

  • Most cases were resolved after reports to harasser’s ISP

  • When asked how the harassment began or how the victim first encountered the harasser, the top three places were: Email (39%), Chat Room (15%), and Message Board/Forum (11%)

• Based on interviews nationally of 1,501 youth ages 10-17 who use the Internet regularly:

  • 1 in 5 received sexual solicitation or approach

  • 1 in 33 received an aggressive sexual solicitation

  • 1 in 4 had unwanted exposure to pictures of naked people or people having sex in the last year

  • 1 in 17 were threatened or harassed

  •  77% of targeted youth were age 14 or older

  • Girls were targeted almost twice the rate as boys

• 66% of the 114 prosecutor’s offices in large districts reported prosecuting cyberstalking crimes in 2001.

• Internet Service Providers (ISP) are receiving a growing number of complaints about harassing and threatening behavior online.

Other Facts About Stalking

• In a study of “obsessional followers” charged with stalking 60% of the sample were physically violent toward a person and/or property.

• Predatory violence (that which is planned, purposeful, emotionless and without autonomic arousal) by stalkers is most likely to occur when the stalking victim is a stranger or public figure.

• Stalking by intimates is more prevalent than previously thought. 5% of women and 0.6% of men reported being stalked by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner or date at some time in their lifetime.

• When asked why they chose not to report their stalking to the police, victims were most likely to state that their stalking was not a police matter, they thought the police would not be able to do anything, or they feared reprisals from their stalkers.

• 78% of stalking victims are female and that 87% of stalking perpetrators were male.

• Most stalking cases involve perpetrators and victims who know each other.

• Women are more likely than men to be stalked by intimate partners, half of whom stalk their partners while the relationship is intact.

• There is a strong link between stalking and other forms of violence in intimate relationships—81% of women stalked by current or former partners were also physically assaulted by that partner and 31% were sexually assaulted.

• American Indian/Alaska Native women are significantly more likely to report being stalked than women of other racial or ethnic backgrounds.

• About 50% of stalking victims report their stalking to police; 25% of cases reported result in suspects being arrested.

• 30% of female stalking victims and 20% of male stalking victims seek psychological counseling as a result of their victimization.

• The average stalking case lasts 1.8 years.