Legislation is one of the essential principles of the existence of humankind in the modern civilization and society. Thanks to the laws and their enforcement by the executive authorities, society is safe and restricted from criminal activities. One of the manifestations of socially dangerous acts is stalking. This work explains the concept of stalking, its principal marks and the need for consistent legislation to combat it.
Stalking is a type of harassment that includes spying on another person, intrusive messages and constant attempts to establish contact, threats, harassment, bullying, etc. Sometimes the stalker tries to make the victim feel guilty and manipulate this feeling. For example, a stalker does not threaten the victim with physical violence but talks about suicide. It blames the victim. The primary offenses of stalkers can be:
- Constant phone calls (From one to hundreds per day);
- Constant SMS messages;
- Threats of different nature;
- Attempts to forcibly or fraudulently enter the dwelling;
- Public humiliation for the sake of attracting attention;
- Property damage;
- Blackmail in the distribution of personal photos, videos, or information.
The victims of stalking are often former partners of them. A typical victim of a stalker is a non-conflict and calm woman, not prone to aggression, although it happens in different ways.
The life of a victim of stalking can turn into a nightmare. Most often, stalking ends in murder. For example, in the book Serial Murderers and Their Victims by Eric Hickey, the author describes a situation that happened to a girl, a police officer. After the reduction, her former partner, Chris Dorner, blamed the girl for everything and implicated racist motives. After being fired, he stalked her and her family. On February 3, 2013, Monica Quan, daughter of Randall Quan and an assistant basketball coach at CA State Fullerton, and her fiancée Keith Lawrence, a campus police officer at USC, were shot to death in a parking garage (Hickey, 2022). The police have been investigating this case for a long time, but they were able to catch the criminal and put him in jail. Thus, anti-stalking legislation is needed to prevent offenses and provide victims of stalking with a calm and safe life.
Reference
Hickey, E. W. (2022). Serial Murderers and Their Victims with Study Guide for Exams California State University. Cengage Learning.