stalking

stalking, the crime of following another person against his or her wishes and harassing that person. The status of stalking as a criminal offense is relatively new, having emerged in the early 1990s, although the behaviours that characterize stalking are not.

History of stalking

What is today called stalking was assigned different names in the past. During the early 20th century, for example, psychiatrists used the term erotomania to describe the delusion of being loved by someone, often a prominent or even famous person. Erotomaniacs, who were usually women, often followed the person who was the focus of their delusion. In the 1980s journalists described “obsession” and “psychological rape” as problems in relationships, rather than as evidence of mental illness or as crimes. By the early 1990s several well-publicized incidents of the harassment of celebrities by fans had led the press to begin speaking of “star stalking.” Those cases could involve serious crimes. In 1989 television actress Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered by a fan, and in 1993 tennis player Monica Seles was stabbed by a deranged supporter of rival player Steffi Graf. Several of those cases involved the harassment of celebrities in California, and the entertainment industry began to press for criminal penalties for star stalking in that state.

Activists in the movement against domestic violence soon linked their cause to the concern over star stalking. They argued that women attempting to leave abusive relationships often sought restraining orders (a court order forbidding an individual to approach or bother the person requesting protection) against their former partners. Those orders frequently were violated and led in some cases to the woman’s death. They suggested that star stalking was just one form of a much-larger problem and that the typical stalking victim was a women trying to leave an unsatisfactory, often abusive, relationship. In 1990 California passed the first antistalking law in the United States.

By the early 21st century, all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia had criminalized stalking, and similar policies had been adopted by countries around the world. Some offered a measure of protection under existing harassment statutes, whereas others codified new laws to protect victims of stalking. Earlier discussions of erotomania and star stalking had depicted offenders as both male and female but generally of lower status than their victims. Examinations of stalking behaviour, however, argued that in most cases men stalked women and that stalking was a form of male domination in a patriarchal society. Although the earlier characterizations of the problem had suggested that violent outcomes were rare, claims about stalking highlighted cases of serious, even fatal, violence.

Perspectives on stalking

Clinical psychologists have argued that stalking is evidence of psychological problems. Their classifications sought to distinguish between types of stalkers on the basis of the symptoms and causes of their illness. For example, one classification scheme identified three categories: erotomaniacs (who had no contact with yet believed they were loved by their famous victims); love obsessionals (similar to erotomaniacs but also suffering from some sort of psychosis); and simple obsessionals (who had had prior contact with their victims). Another classification distinguished between rejected stalkers (who harass an ex-partner who tries to end a relationship), resentful stalkers (who try to frighten someone they believe has harmed them), intimacy seekers and incompetent suitors (who continue trying to establish relationships with individuals who indicate that they are not interested), and predatory stalkers (whose stalking usually prepares the way for some sort of sexual assault).

Sociologists have focused on stalking within the context of ambiguities in social relationships. They began by acknowledging that most efforts to establish new relationships require approaching another person and expressing an interest in—even a determination to continue—seeing the person. Through giving gifts, making declarations of commitment and love, and other similar gestures, individuals reveal their desire to build and maintain relationships. In most cases the other person either reciprocates, indicating that the interest in the relationship is mutual, or declines those overtures, and the relationship comes to an end. There are no hard and fast rules for building or ending relationships, but, according to sociologists, there are norms for how people ought to behave. Stalkers, sociologists have noted, violate those norms: they send gifts without warning; they pay close attention to people they barely know; they ignore signals that the other person is not interested.

Stalking as social interaction

In most cases stalking must be identified and defined as such by the victim. That process involves interpretation, in which ambiguity is resolved through the application of the label “stalking.” For example, relational stalking begins as a new or developing relationship. Most new relationships involve an individual who seeks out further contact with another person, who tries to learn more about that person, and who acts to gain the other’s attention and approval. Unless individuals make efforts of that sort, it is difficult for new relationships to develop. On the other hand, building new relationships requires that there be reciprocation: the other person agrees to further contact, shares information, and indicates an interest in developing the relationship. Although every gesture need not meet with a positive response, most new relationships involve a pattern of gradually increasing sharing, of mutual efforts at relationship building. Still, that process may involve considerable ambiguity, with individuals asking themselves what the other wants and what the other’s actions might mean. When individuals try to signal to the other that they are not interested in developing a relationship, their signals may be misread or ignored. When one’s signals no longer seem to work, and the other continues to persist in what now seem to be inappropriate actions, the relationship becomes troubling. What was initially ambiguous or confusing behaviour is now redefined; in such cases people label themselves as victims of stalking.

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In other cases stalking emerges from deteriorating relationships. In those cases the trust and confidence an individual had in another begins to crumble; the parties begin to view their relationship very differently. One individual may try to control or at least keep track of the other’s behaviour. Requests become demands; demands become threats; and in extreme cases threats escalate into violence. Again, initial ambiguity and uncertainty crystallize into perceptions of victimization, and the troubling behaviour becomes labeled as stalking.

Stalking, then, has emerged as a widely known, readily available label for a variety of inappropriate or troubling behaviours that may occur as relationships develop or decay. Problems in social interaction over relationships are not new. What has changed is that those problems now have the name stalking, and they can be defined as criminal offenses.