Information on Stalking
What is stalking?
Stalking is a series of actions that puts a person in fear for their safety. The stalker may follow you, harass you, call you on the telephone, watch your house, send you mail/email you don't want, or act in some other way that frightens you.
The legal definition varies from state to state, but all states now have some kind of law against stalking. Virtually any unwanted contact between a stalker and their victim which directly or indirectly communicates a threat or places the victim in fear can generally be referred to as stalking, whether or not it meets a state's exact legal definition.
Stalkers use a wide variety of methods to harass their targets. The inventiveness, persistence, and obsessive nature of stalkers is almost unimaginable, until you have experienced being the target.
Stalking is a serious, potentially life-threatening crime. Even in its less severe forms, it permanently changes the lives of the people who are victimized by this crime, as well as affecting their friends, families, and co-workers.
Stalking is more common than you might think. Best estimates indicate that as many as 1.4 million Americans are stalked each year; and that 1 in 20 women will become targets of stalking behavior at least once during their lifetimes. Many men are also stalked.
Cyber Stalking
If you bookmark this or any other site about domestic violence, your abuser can find out that you have been getting information on domestic violence. If you can, clear all cache/history files from your web browser. You may want to access this site from somewhere other than home. See instructions below for eliminating traces to browsing the
internet for domestic violence web pages.
1. On the menu at the top of the browser window, click on Tools>Internet Options...
2. In the dialog window that opens, click on the "General" tab.
3. In the section labeled "Temporary Internet Files", if you wish to delete all the files and cookies, click on the "Delete Files..." button. A confirmation dialog will open asking if you want to delete all files in your temporary internet folder. Click "OK".
4. If you wish to selectively delete files and cookies, click on the "Settings..." button. A dialog window will open. Click on the "View Files..." button. A window will open with a list of all your temporary internet files and cookies. You can highlight the files you wish to delete and hit the delete key or click Edit>Delete.
5. To empty the History folder, click on the "Clear History" button and then the "OK" button.
1. On the menu at the top of the browser window, click on Tools>Options...
2. In the dialog window that opens, click on the "Privacy" tab.
3. Click on the "Clear Your Recent History" link and follow instructions.
4. Click on the "Remove Individual Cookies" link and follow instructions.
Each time you access websites, "cookies" can be created. Cookies are cryptic bookmarks that a Web site can place on your computer to acknowledge your prior visit, authenticate your access or let you continue on through a site from where you last left off. They are really no big deal and will not do anything to damage your computer, however, they can leave a trail of evidence of where you have been on the web. If you visit a website on domestic violence and a cookie is created as a result of that visit, your abuser can trace your trail and discover where you've been.
Click below to download additional information on sexual assault:
Stalking Handbook
Stalking Fact Sheet
Stalking Quiz
