Stalking Fact Sheet
Information obtained from WESA , Essential Pittsburgh
m.wesa.fm
Stalking and Harassment Civil Protection Orders
FACT SHEET
• 38 states have civil protection orders for stalking/harassment victims. Pennsylvania is one of only 12 states that do not.1
• The majority of stalking victims in the U.S. are not stalked by a known intimate, but instead by a known other and therefore are not protected by PFA laws. These statistics support the desperate need for legislation… victim-offender relationship statistics from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report of Stalking Victimization in the United States 2009 shows that 30.3% of stalking victims are stalked by a known intimate which falls under current spouse (5.6%), former spouse (8.4%), current boyfriend/girlfriend (3.2%), or ex-boyfriend/girlfriend (13.1%). 45.1% are stalked by a known other which includes roommate/friend/neighbor(16.4%), known from work or school (9.9%), acquaintance (9.8%), relative (9.0%). 9.7% are stalked by strangers.
• The statistics above show that only 39.3% of stalking victims are able to obtain restraining orders, which leaves 60.7% of stalking victims unprotected.
• During a one-year period, 3.4 million people ages 18 or older in the United States were stalked2
• An analysis of 13 published studies of 1,155 stalking cases found that 38.7% of the victims experienced violence connected to the stalking.3
• 17 states have civil protection orders for sexual assault victims.4
• 1 in 12 women and 1 in 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime.5
• During a 12-month period an estimated 14 in every 1,000 persons age 18 or older were victims of stalking2
• Approximately 1 in 4 stalking victims reported some form of cyber-stalking such as e-mail (83%) or instant messaging (35%).2
• More than half of stalking victims lost 5 or more days from work.2
• Stalking had a serious impact on victims’ lives. It brought on loss of weight, sleep disturbances and nightmares, anxiety attacks, depression, memory loss, and other physical and emotional symptoms. It left them with feelings of anger, fear, and helplessness; necessitated changes in their daily habits; and often resulted in damage to property, moving expenses, or loss of employment.6
1 http://www.victimsofcrime.org/docs/src/stalking-cpo-by-state.pdf?sfvrsn=0
2 Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report of Stalking Victimization in the United States 2009
3 http://www.victimsofcrime.org/library/crime-information-and-statistics/stalking
4. http://www.vaw.umn.edu/documents/sexualassaultcpobystate/sexualassaultcpobystate.pdf
5 http://www.survivorsservices.org/StalkingStatistics.html
6 http://www.nij.gov/nij/topics/crime/stalking/victims.htm
