“The Bill aims to give protection to the victims of harassment, not by defining activities that are known as stalking – as we believe that such a definition would inevitably omit some activities that are distressing or worse to the victims – but by focussing on the harm inflicted on the victim. That harm is harassment.” (As quoted in Sheridan et al 2001: 138)
It may be for this lack of definition in the law that many victims do not report their victimisation to the police. Only one third of victims in the survey reported their victimisation to the police. They may not realise that a crime is being committed against them because of the differing perspectives that are held about the term “stalking” in legal definitions. “Stalking may be described as an elusive crime, one that is easy to commit, but difficult to define and prosecute.” (Sheridan 2001: 143)
Victim characteristics and victimisation risks.
Out of 9988 participants aged 16-59, in the British Crime Survey self-completion questionnaire 2.9% were subjected to persistent and unwanted attention. Women were found to be much more at risk than men to be victims of stalking, especially young women, 4.0% of women compared with 1.7% of men, no typologies of male victims were identified in the results of the survey. These match the findings of a telephone interview conducted by the National Opinions Polls Research where double the amount of women (19%) were subjected to persistent pestering compared to men (8%). The British Crime Survey identified particular groups of women most at risk as follows,
- Students 12.4%
- Single 9.8%
- Living in privately rented accommodation 7.4%
- Living in a flat or maisonette 6.6%
- Living in a household with an annual income of less than £15,000 5.3%.
The British Crime Survey supports the findings of other research on the typologies of the victims of stalking such as the national survey carried out by National Violence Against Women in the United States, however it cannot be directly compared due to the variety of definitions of stalking. Sheridan et al in a study of 95 self defined victims of stalking, classified victims (only 7% were male) in terms of occupation; they found women in professional occupations were more likely to be victims (27%) than retired women (2%). This supports the view that it is younger women who are more at risk.
Nature of stalking victimisation.
The British Crime Survey self-completion questionnaire asked about 14 types of behaviour that could be classed as persistent and unwanted behaviour; victims were subjected to more than one, Sheridan et al, especially women victims, support this. The following were found to be the most common,
- Forced into talking to the offender 49%
- Silent phone calls 45%
- Being physically intimidated 42%
- Being followed 39%
- Being touched or grabbed 34%
- The offender waiting outside the victims home 33%
Sheridan found a higher percentage of the type of behaviour towards the victim was being watched (81%) although approaches and tries to speak to the victim were also high at 63%. The nature of stalking differs between men and women victims, the survey found men were more likely to be threatened or had experienced violent behaviour against them and a higher percentage were subject to silent phone calls. Women were found to be more likely than men to be forced into talking to their offender. (Budd 2000) The types of victimisation found in England and Wales is similar to the victimisation found by researchers in other countries, for example Hall (1998) surveyed 145 stalking victims in the USA finding common types of victimisation including telephoning, unwanted gifts and so on. The issues this raises in relation to the victim is that other common types of unwanted behaviour, may not have been noted by the victim as they do not perceive it as stalking or they may feel foolish.
Impact on the victim.
Victims were affected in a number of ways as a result of their victimisation. The British Crime Survey looked at the impact on victims in terms of emotional impact, lifestyle impact, fears of further victimisation, and then comparing victims’ and non-victims concerns. 91% were annoyed or irritated compared to 74% who were distressed or upset. Women were more likely to be very distressed (50%) compared to men (32%). The emotional impacts can be damaging to a victim, even if the unwanted behaviour is not seen to be harmful physically, for example repeatedly sending flowers, is not against the law when taken in isolation, however it can leave the victim feeling helpless, and in many cases feeling like they have to prove they are a victim. Sheridan et al found 39% to feel a range of adjectives from fear to anger. Many victimisations affected the victim’s lifestyle; this was more prevalent in women as 76% had made changes to their lifestyle compared with 59% of men. Occupation changes occurred in Sheridan et al study, individuals in professional occupations at the start of their victimisation reduced by 16% and unemployment in victims rose by 1%. Changing their behaviour, assumes that the victimisation is their own fault, for example avoiding certain places is making the victim question their right to be at that place or their right to go out at all. Victims were more concerned than non-victims about there own personal safety, 31% of all victims were afraid of violence being used against them. 35% of the victims surveyed were dissatisfied with the way the police dealt with their victimisation, this is similar to Sheridan et al results, 41% were unhappy with the action taken by the police.
Police Response.
For victims of stalking the police is the first point of contact, however as discussed before, stalking is not a legal term in England and Wales, this is a problem for victims as they may not be aware that they are able to prosecute. In 1997 The Protection from Harassment Act was introduced, and a victim can have their stalker arrested under the following summary of offence S2 and fear of violence S4. The act however has rarely been used in the case of stalking, in 1999, 983 people were cautioned under section 2 of the act and 165 were cautioned under section 4. (Harris 2000) For victims getting the prosecutions can be traumatic, 39% of harassment cases are dropped due to lack of evidence, one victim of stalking Tracey Morgan recalls “you have to gain your own evidence to prove a) to yourself that your not going mad and b) to the legal system that he’s here, look at what he’s doing.” (Harris 2000: p21) Victims can feel re-victimised by the police, as time wasters, issues that arose out of the British Crime Survey was that victims felt that they were not given enough support by the police or kept up to date with their case. Detective Inspector Hamish Brown wrote a guide for police when dealing with stalking he points out, “stalking has a traumatic effect on victims, who rightly expect police to take it seriously.” However there is evidence that some forces are not using the Act effectively as results show that in 1998 there were 337 prosecutions for the Offence of Harassment in the West Midlands whilst just 25 prosecutions in Warwick. (Heusan 2000) If the victimisation were seen to be prevalent throughout the country, as represented by the British Crime Survey then this large discrepancy surly wouldn’t occur. This is a further problem to the victim, as how the police treat them seems to be effected by where they live and not on the law.
Support Available.
In England and Wales there are only two organisations that offer support specifically to the victims of stalking, these organisations are not available in all local regions, and are mainly accessible through the internet, but not all victims have access or are even aware of them. In the Sheridan et al study only one person thought support was sufficient. In the British Crime Survey 37% of victims thought their ordeal was wrong but not a crime, this could be the consequence of inadequate support agencies. For example there are various leaflets about offering support and advise for victims of rape or domestic violence, but during my research I was unable to find one that offered support to victims of stalking. The National association, Victim Support, supports victims of stalking but this is not advertised. 72% told a friend, relative or neighbour, whilst only 8% confided in a doctor.
Conclusion.
The findings of this research report on stalking victimisation are that there is not enough evidence about the crime to really understand the nature of the crimes against the victim. Although stalking is a relatively new crime in the sense that it is prosecutable, not enough is being done to help the victim. Research has shown a little about the impact of stalking on the victim, but the research has done little to help the victims. There has been no issue of making the public [possible victims] aware that stalking behaviour is a criminal offence and this is having implications upon the victim, in that they are not demanding protection. In the national criminal statistics “stalking” is under harassment and even those arrested under the Acts implemented to combat stalking, it can not be clear whether those arrested have been for stalking behaviour.
