Transcript Stalking, victims and victimology

Stalking, victims and victimology
Diane Solomon Westerhuis, PhD
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Contents
• what is stalking?
• How do we know?
• what do we know about stalking?
– research available, leads to
• victimology as a discipline
– studies the impacts of stalking
• our responses- how can we help victims and
prevent the abuse
Stalking is a crime
Stalking focuses on a victim (so is central to
the concerns of victimology)
Stalking affects the victim’s long term
psychological, social and interpersonal
functioning (so is central to the concerns of
the community)
Stalking is not always reported, and therefore
we do not know the extent to which it
occurs in different communities
stalking typologies
e.g. Mullen PE, Pathé M, Purcell R and Stuart GW, “Study of Stalkers”
(1999) 156 American Journal of Psychiatry 1244.
broad, and occasionally overlapping, groups:
1. the rejected (usually ex-intimate seeking further intimacy);
2. the intimacy-seeking (delusional infatuation- often
strangers)
3.
the incompetent suitors (pursuing real contact,
4.
the resentful (pursuit for revenge for some actual or
5.
the predatory (preparatory to an attack, almost always
usually sexual)
supposed injury or humiliation)
sexual)
How do we know?
a new field of research.
the literature is relatively sparse and generally rather
specialised
Research has ….been characterised by forensic investigations
into the psychological profiles of stalkers, with occasional
excursions into the area by sociologists, feminists and policy
makers. There is, however, a dearth of literature examining
criminal justice system practices relating to stalking.
Adam Graycar, Director, AIC, introducing Ogilvie, E. (2000). Stalking : policing and prosecuting
practices in three Australian jurisdictions. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi176.html
Sources of information
• Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) www.abs.gov.au
• Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC)
www.aic.gov.au
• Academic research, e.g. Pathé, M., & Mullen, P. E.
(1997). The impact of stalkers on their victims. British
Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 12-17.
ABS
• -Stalking has its own code.
Actions intended to cause physical or
mental harm to the victim or to arouse
apprehension or fear in the victim for his
or her own safety. These are coded to
Group 0291, Stalking.
• ABS 2005 Personal Safety Survey
– 2005 Personal Safety Survey (PSS) conducted by the
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) throughout
Australia from August to December 2005.
Women's Safety Survey 1996
Women who experience stalking by a man - type
of stalking, when stalking began, whether
stalking has stopped, how the perpetrator was
known to them, police contact, reasons for
not contacting the police, effects on life
(change in day-to-day activities and time off
work), fear for personal safety as a result of
the stalking
http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/F16680629C465E0
3CA256980007C4A81/$File/41280_1996.pdf
AIC web site for Women and crimeStalking
They have a link to their conference in 2000- AIC publications and conferences
Then Other resources
• Stalking : problem-oriented policing guide
National Center for the Victims of Crime (US), 2004
• Domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking : findings from the British
Crime Survey (PDF 562kB) Sylvia Walby and Jonathan Allen. Home Office
(UK), 2004
• Stalking offences : crime statistics bulletin
Queensland Office of Economic and Statistical Research, 2002
• The extent and nature of stalking : findings from the 1998 British Crime
Survey (PDF 346kB) Tracey Budd and Joanna Mattinson, with the
assistance of Andy Myhill. Home Office (UK), 2000
• Australian anti-stalking and threat website (note this has many links, but
focuses on a UK survey questionnaire)
• See also Cyberstalking and online harassment
AIC- crime victimization surveys
• The majority of industrialised countries conduct crime
victimization surveys to estimate the extent of certain crimes
and the percentage reported to the police.
• These data are used to supplement police statistics and are
particularly useful for examining crimes that have low
percentages of reporting to police, such as sexual assault.
see Australian Institute of Criminology, 2008. Australian Crime:
Facts and Figures 2007. Canberra: AIC
What do we know?
Stalking involves various activities, such as loitering and
following, which the respondent believed were being
undertaken with the intent to harm or frighten. To be
classified as stalking more than one type of activity had to
occur, or the same type of activity had to occur on more than
one occasion.
We know that
• Younger people were more likely to be stalked than
older people.
– In the 12 months prior to the survey,
• 28% (31,000) of men and 31% (61,300) of
women who experienced stalking were aged
18–24 compared to
• 11% (12,500) of men and 8.8% (17,200) of
women aged 55 years or older
We know about violence for the proportion of males and
females who experienced stalking or harassment during the
last 12 months(a) — 2005
EXPERIENCE OF STALKING Relationship to perpetrator (percentages, all victims)
•
•
•
•
•
Other known persons (c) 8.9
Family or friends
31.9
Previous partner
17.2
Boyfriend or girlfriend or date 12.0
Stranger
32.6
ABS (2006:26), Personal safety survey Australia
(c) Includes acquaintance, neighbour, counsellor or
psychologist or psychiatrist, ex-boyfriend or girlfriend,
doctor, teacher, minister, priest or clergy and prison officer.
Components may not add to the total as a person may have
experienced stalking by more than one perpetrator type.
Effects of stalking
exemplar study- Australian study by
Pathé, M., & Mullen, P. E. (1997). The impact of
stalkers on their victims. British Journal of
Psychiatry, 170, 12-17.
see also Schell, B. H., & Lanteigne, N. M. (2000).
Stalking, harassment, and murder in the
workplace : guidelines for protection and
prevention. Westport, CT: Quorum Books. (ptc.
pages 50-54)
data
100 stalking ‘targets’- 83 ♀ 17♂
• duration of stalking= 1 month to 20 years,
median= 24 months
• same-sex stalking= 10% ♀ , 4% ♂
• encountered their stalkers through work = 34%
• ex-partners = 29%
• no knowledge of any prior contact with stalkers=
16%
Effects of stalking
1. Multiple forms of stressors were common
The majority of targets:
• being followed (71%),
• being repeatedly approached at work or at home
(79%), and
• being repeatedly bombarded with letters (62%)
and telephone calls (78%).
• Threats from the stalkers—overt and covert—
were received by 58% of the targets, and
• 34% of the targets were physically or sexually
assaulted by their stalkers.
2. A Disruption of Life Routine Was Common
•
•
•
•
•
•
life routines were severely disrupted by their stalkers’ activities
e.g. telephone calls at all hours, at home and work, giving
silence or declarations of love, obscenities, or threats.
break-ins of homes and surveillance - stalkers often waiting
outside or repeatedly driving past their targets’ homes or offices
in a car
stalkers liked to convey to their targets their continued
knowledge of their targets’ movements
Property damage
Unsolicited material =flowers, audiotapes, perfume,
confectionary, plush toys, jewellery, food parcels, gift vouchers,
photos featuring the targets, a pig’s head, the body of the
victim’s mutilated cat.
3. Threats to Reputation and to Life Took Many
Forms
•
•
•
•
malicious gossip (often attacking their credibility, morals,
and professionalism) to their employers, family members,
friends, landlords, and various government agencies
threats to plague their targets until they succumbed to
their demands—often to go out with them
Incessant threats of sexual assault prompted one target to
begin taking oral contraceptives
Death threats came to targets in many forms e.g. letters
and cards with pictures of crosses and gravestones.
Another was told that she and her family members would
be killed, and that their house would be burnt to the
ground. In some instances, the targets’ children were the
focus of the stalkers’ death threats.
4. Targets Experienced Psychological, Interpersonal,
or Occupational Malfunctioning
• All of the targets felt that their stalking
ordeals had a deleterious impact on their
psychological, interpersonal, or occupational
functioning.
• 94% of the targets made major changes in
their work and social lives
• 53% of them changing jobs, taking early
retirement, or ceasing employment
altogether
their responses
•
•
•
•
•
•
39% of the targets moved from their homes (as many as
five times; seven targets moved between states and three
moved over seas).
female targets said they had undertaken self-defence
courses,
some admitted that they kept makeshift weapons under
their beds
and two received instruction in the use of firearms—(see
USA advice to arm)
70% of the targets curtailed their social outings through
fear of encountering their stalkers.
Others would not let their children play outside the home.
5.Targets Suffered from Pathological Distress or
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• 83% of the targets reported suffering from pathological
levels of anxiety and distress
• intrusive recollections and flashbacks of the stalking
and harassment or deals were experienced by 55% of
the victims, with high numbers of nightmares, appetite
disturbances, and depressed moods also reported.
• 75% of the targets expressed overwhelming feelings of
powerlessness
• thoughts of suicide as a way of ending their stalking
ordeals were acknowledged by 24% of the targets.
• clinical criteria for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) were met for 37% of the targets.
The effects of Stalking and Threat on
Children and Adolescents
• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) –
appears in children than adults
• adolescents look more like adults
What do victims do?
• Relocate?
• Chapter 13 of Michelle Pathe's book "Surviving Stalking" is
titled "Should I just disappear?"
• Costs to victims of relocation
• Moving away disrupts work, schooling and social ties.
• It is both emotionally and financially draining
"Stalking that arises between neighbours, when it is solely
confined to that neighbourhood, is usually resolved by the
victims relocation. However, stalkers who are determined to
maintain a relationship, particularly intimacy seekers and
the rejected, have considerably more invested in their
victims and will seldom give them up so easily’.
Research
Thomas, S. D. M., Purcell, R., Pathe, M., & Mullen, P. E. (2008). Harm
associated with stalking victimization. Australian & New Zealand Journal of
Psychiatry, 42(9), 800-806.
to determine the frequency at which assault and attempted
assault occur as outcomes among stalking victims
to explore the common characteristics of those cases in which
the victims report these harmful outcomes as a result of
the stalking behaviour.
• Method: A sample of 3700 men and women randomly
selected from the electoral roll were sent a postal
questionnaire to determine the prevalence and nature of
their experiences of stalking behaviours. Those who selfreported that they had been stalked were divided
according to whether their pursuer had, or had not,
attacked them.
Findings
• Of the 432 who reported having been stalked, 75
(17.4%) had been attacked.
• A number of victim and perpetrator factors
differentiated those who reported attacks.
• A combination of the victim being threatened, being an
ex-intimate, and being younger at the time of the
stalking incident were predictive of attack.
• Conclusions: ‘Stalking is an all too common problem
behaviour that can result in a range of harmful
outcomes for victims. Threats made by ex-intimates are
a particular cause for concern.’ (p800)
other research
Blaauw, E., Winkel, F. W., & Arensman, E. (2000). The toll of stalking: the relationship between
features of stalking and psychopathology of victims. Paper presented at the Stalking:
Criminal Justice Responses Conference. AIC: Sydney 7-8 December 2000
• to study the impact of specific stalking features on
victim’s psychopathology
• to investigate whether stalking victims have a heightened
prevalence of psychopathology
• the extent to which symptom levels are associated with
stalking features.
the study
Sample= 246 stalking victims
• high levels of psychopathology were found- symptom levels
were comparable to those of psychiatric outpatients
• 77% had a symptom level indicating a diagnosable psychiatric
disorder
‘Although testing for the frequency, pervasiveness, duration and
cessation of stalking, and the association of these variables
with symptom levels, it was concluded that stalking victims
generally have many symptoms of psychopathology
independent of features of their stalking experience.
These findings indicate that better therapy outcomes can be
expected from therapies focusing on boosting general coping
skills and on decreasing general vulnerability (than from
therapies focusing on specifically dealing with the stalking
situation)’.
research
• This is a particularly difficult issue to research,
because stalking is not always reported, and you
will not find stalking as a crime type in the latest
crime statistics.
• although we know there are many victims, we do
not know the extent to which it occurs in different
communities
• however consistent findings in all countries where
research undertaken- common outcomes of victim
pathologies, which leads to
Victimology
• is both academic study and social
movement
• is an indication of the concerns we have as
a society about victims of crime
• an attempt to understand who are victims
and why
• how does society respond to victims?
• what are the impacts upon victims of
crime?
Victimology
Encyclopædia Britannica Online http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9389388
Definition: branch of criminology that
scientifically studies the relationship between
an injured party and an offender by examining
the causes and the nature of the consequent
suffering.
history of victimology
1940s and '50s
several criminologists -Hans von Hentig,
Benjamin Mendelsohn, and Henri Ellenberger
examined victim-offender interactions and
stressed reciprocal influences and role
reversals
some of these early victim—offender interaction
theories have been accused of victim-blaming
Shifts of focus
1960s- civil rights movements – focus on social inequalities
and injustices- shift from victim blaming to victimdefending
1970s – feminist movement- focus on equal rights – shift to
improved services such as sexual assault services and
women's shelters.
Women’s movements produced legislative reforms which
were more victim-oriented
1980s and '90s - the more conservative 'law and order'
movement
‘focus on retribution is seen by many victimologists as counterproductive to just outcomes for victims and offenders’
(Hayes and Prenzler 2007:330).
What is the focus of victimology?
focuses on
• the characteristics of victims
• The aspects of the crime (location, time of day
etc)
• victim’s relationship to offenders• why a particular person or place is targeted
Aims of victimology
• the field sometimes focused on the varying degrees of
victim blaming- you can avoid being a victim
• later studies intended to
– prevent victimization
– improve the way complainants are handled by the police
and courts
– speed recovery
• so victimologists study
– the kinds of help injured parties need
– the effectiveness of efforts intended to make them “whole
again,” both financially and emotionally
victimology research assisted to create:
United Nations Declaration of Basic
Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime
and Abuse of Power (1985)
1. "Victims" means persons who, individually or
collectively, have suffered harm, including
physical or mental injury, emotional
suffering, economic loss or substantial
impairment of their fundamental rights,
through acts or omissions that are in
violation of criminal laws operative within
Member States, including those laws
proscribing criminal abuse of power.
2. regardless of whether the perpetrator is
identified, regardless of the familial
relationship between the perpetrator and the
victim
3. includes the immediate family or dependants
of the direct victim and persons who have
suffered harm in intervening to assist victims
in distress or to prevent victimization
(secondary and tertiary victims)
Our responses- what can we do?
• can we improve laws?
• we can treat the stalkers
• we can treat victims
• can we reduce/prevent stalking?
current research cconclusions include improving
laws, helping victims to become survivors, and
put in place reduction and prevention
strategies
Blaauw et. al. (2000) conclusions
better therapy outcomes can be expected from
therapies focusing on boosting general coping
skills and on decreasing general vulnerability than
from therapies focusing on specifically dealing
with the stalking situation.
‘Finally, future research is needed on long-term
consequences of stalking and the consequences of
stalking for the children of the victims, especially
because of the fact that the majority of the
victims had children and were forced to raise
these children in difficult circumstances’ (p9)
Mullen, P. E., Pathé, M., Purcell, R., & Stuart, G.
W. (1999). Study of Stalkers. Am J Psychiatry,
156(8), 1244-1249.
Bringing stalking to an end requires a mixture of
appropriate legal sanctions and therapeutic
interventions. (p1244)
Bibliography
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2006). Crime and Safety Australia 2005, Cat. 4509. Canberra:
ABS.
Blaauw, E., Winkel, F. W., & Arensman, E. (2000). The toll of stalking: the relationship between
features of stalking and psychopathology of victims. Paper presented at the Stalking:
Criminal Justice Responses Conference. AIC: Sydney 7-8 December 2000
Encyclopædia Britannica Online http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9389388
Hairon, N. (2004). Act quickly to avoid being the victim of a stalker. Pulse, 64(48), 20-20.
Hayes, H., & Prenzler, T. (eds.). (2007). An introduction to crime. Frenchs Forest: Pearson.
Mullen PE, Pathé M, Purcell R and Stuart GW, (1999) Study of Stalkers American Journal of
Psychiatry 1244
Ogilvie, E. (2000). Stalking : policing and prosecuting practices in three Australian jurisdictions.
Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology
Thomas, S. D. M., Purcell, R., Pathe, M., & Mullen, P. E. (2008). Harm associated with stalking
victimization. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 42(9), 800-806
United Nations (1985) United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of
Crime and Abuse of Power (1985)