Stalking
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Wikipedia-Article "Stalking"
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- This article is about the action: to stalk. "Stalk" also refers to a part of a plant; the longish piece that supports the seed-carrying parts of a plant, or, more simply, the stem.
- In mathematics, "stalk" usually refers to the idea of the stalk of a sheaf. Rarely, in the context of the Mandelbrot set, a stalk may refer to Pickover stalks.
- In hunting, stalking is a method of pursuing prey by moving quietly over terrain, as distinct from baiting, flushing, driving or stand-hunting.
Stalking is a legal term for repeated harassment or other forms of invasion of a person's privacy in a manner that causes fear to its target. It is essentially a course of conduct and particular acts include:
- repeated following;
- unwanted contact (by letter-writing, or other means of communication); or
- observing a person's actions extremely closely for an extended period of time.
- performance of actions or skits designed to frighten or terrorize. see Street theater
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Motives
Many stalking cases come out of previous relationships, and are conducted by people who are otherwise considered "normal". A sizable minority of stalking cases, typically the more severe and lengthy ones, are sometimes done out of a pathological obsession or derangement. Stalking is often a form of psychological abuse.
Stalking may involve the intent to acquire private information or objects. Common victims of stalking include:
- ex-husbands/wives;
- ex-boyfriends/girlfriends (somebody stalking an ex-lover whom they want back, or even a present lover of an ex-lover, and other cases of unrequited love);
- people in highly visible or social professions, such as teachers, counsellors, doctors and celebrities (a fan stalking a celebrity, or public figure); and
- prominent dissidents, political or otherwise;
- whistleblowers, activists, revenge for hire
Many other stalking cases are not sexually-motivated at all. It must be recalled that the essence of stalking is, besides as a means to obtain private information about someone else, sometimes a way of inflicting menace. This is a tactic commonly employed by underworld organisations against their enemies, and many unscrupulous debt-collection agencies employ underworld-associated people to use this capability to their advantage, often victimising the innocent.
Governments, particularly authoritarian ones, can also employ stalking as an obvious form of surveillance against criminals and people whom they perceive as enemies of the state. This tactic is often abused to repress dissent and opposition. It is not uncommon for the secret police to have an informant or a number of informants follow suspected dissidents and report on their activities. (See also police state.)
Revolutionaries, insurrectionists and terrorist groups use stalking as a method to spy on their enemies, often preparing in the meantime, a plan to kidnap or assassinate their target. The same applies to suspected traitors and whistle-blowers.
Trade unions may employ this tactic of picketing to pressure workers into participating into a strike or some industrial action, and some laws against stalking have addressed this behaviour. The original California version is an example. To be written
Laws on stalking
The laws against stalking in different jurisdictions vary, and so do the definitions. Some make the act illegal as it stands, while others do only if the stalking becomes threatening or endangers the receiving end. The first law to criminalise stalking in developed countries is the one in California, enacted in 1990. Within seven years thereafter, every state in the United States and some other common-law jurisdictions followed suit to create the crime of stalking, perhaps under different names such as criminal harassment or criminal menace. In England and Wales, liability may arise in the event that the victim suffers either mental or physical harm as a result of being stalked (see R. v. Constanza).
Many states in the US also recognize stalking as grounds for issuance of a civil restraining order. Since this requires a lower burden of proof than a criminal charge, laws recognizing non-criminal allegations of stalking suffer the same risk of abuse seen with false allegations of domestic violence.
In 2000, Japan enacted a national law to combat this behaviour. However, the nature of the acts of stalking can be viewed as acts "interfering the tranquility of others' lives", and are prohibited under petty offence laws in China, made in 1987 (replaced by a new law, but the substance is preserved). Stalking, as in the context of organised crimes suppression, is expressly forbidden under Macau's laws.
Many young people misuse the term "stalk" as a synonym for mere information obtaining that may not be malicious albeit the term stalk really refers to a more "malicious" obtaining of information.
Stalked public figures
Some stalkers have been following celebrities around since the advent of yellow journalism. In some cases, the stalking behaviour in question is quite harmless and does not go to extremes. In other cases, however, the celebrities being targeted:
- have to leave their profession for many years while they build a new life (e.g. Andrea Evans);
- have their homes constantly searched by political authorities when away, while often returning with a house surrounded by bugs and recording devices. They are also forced to live side-by-side with informants. (e.g Vaclav Havel)
- Are forced to leave the country to avoid being arrested or persecuted. (e.g Alexander Solzhenitsyn).
- become the victim of violent attacks (Theresa Saldana and Pope John Paul II survived to tell the tale, while others, like John Lennon and Rebecca Schaeffer, did not); or
- have resulted in dangerous incidents, killing or injuring the victim (e.g. Princess Diana- disputed-- and Viktor Yushchenko-- poisoned but survived).
See also
- Cyberstalking
- Erotomania
- Game stalker
- Persecution
- Poison pen letter
- Surveillance
- Threat Management Unit
External links
- Article on stalking
- Benschop, Albert: Cyberstalking - Menaced on the internet. In: Sociosite - Peculiarities of Cyberspace.
- The Australian Anti-stalking and threat website
- Personal Protection Orders to stop stalkers
- Axis of Evil: Leveraging Google, Usenet in Gang Stalking
- Stalking Behavior
- Stalking Victims Sanctuary
- Sexual harassment and stalking support and resources
- Gang Stalking and Community based harassment
- Community and Technological based harassment
- No-Nonsense Self-Defense insights on stalker psychology