According to a report released earlier this month, the U.S Department of Justice (DOJ)’s Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 3.4 million people were stalked in the United States during a 12-month survey period between 2005 and 2006. The report is titled Stalking Victimization in the United States (PDF, 16 pages). The DOJ report found that gender matters: women were nearly three times as likely to be stalked as men (20 out of every 1000 women versus 7 out of every 1000 men). Women victims were significantly more likely to be stalked by a man than by a woman (67 versus 24%). But women and men stalking victims were equally likely to report the stalking to the police (41 and 37%).
Of all victims, three out of four knew the identity of their stalker. 22% of all victims identified their stalker as a former intimate partner. Age is also significant; young people aged 18-19 and 20-24, experienced more stalking than all other age groups combined. Marital status also played a large role; 34 out of every 1000 divorced or separated people experienced stalking.
For the full text of this report, please click here (PDF, 16 pages).
Compiled from:
Family Violence Prevention Fund, Features: More than 3 Million Stalked Each Year (last accessed 20 January 2009).
Katrina Baum, Shannan Catalano, Michael Rand and Kristina Rose, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report, National Crime Victimization Survey: Stalking Victimization in the United States, Document NCJ 224527 (January 2009) (PDF, 16 pages).