Stalking Awareness Resolution Clears House

On February 4, the House approved, by voice vote, a resolution to designate January 2010 as National Stalking Awareness Month. The House passed a similar resolution last year (see The Source, 2/6/09).

Sponsored by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

• in a one-year period, an estimated 3.4 million people in the United States reported being stalked, and 75 percent of victims were stalked by someone who was not a stranger;
• one in four victims reported that stalkers had used technology, such as e-mail or instant messaging, to follow and harass them, and one in 13 said stalkers had used electronic devices to intrude on their lives; stalking victims are forced to take drastic measures to protect themselves, such as changing jobs, obtaining protection orders, relocating, and changing their identities;
• approximately 130,000 victims reported having been fired or asked to leave their jobs because of the stalking, and about one in eight lost time from work because they feared for their safety or were taking steps, such as seeking a restraining order, to protect themselves;
• less than half of victims report stalking to police and only seven percent contacted a victim service provider, shelter, or hotline;
• there is a need to enhance the criminal justice system’s response to stalking and stalking victims, including aggressive investigation and prosecution, and increase the availability of victim services across the country tailored to meet the needs of stalking victims; and
• 2010 marks ten years during which the Stalking Resource Center has increased national awareness of stalking and enhanced local responses to stalking victims through training over 35,000 law enforcement, prosecutors, victim service providers, and other community stakeholders, and provided assistance to jurisdictions working to enhance their stalking laws.

The resolution “encourages policymakers, criminal justice officials, victim service and social service agencies, colleges and universities, nonprofits, and others to recognize the need to increase awareness of stalking and the availability of services for stalking victims; and urges national and community organizations, businesses in the private sector, and the media to promote awareness of the crime of stalking through National Stalking Awareness Month.”