About one in four stalking victims in the United States reported some form of cyber-stalking such as e-mail (83 percent) or instant messaging (35 percent), according to a Justice Department report released Monday. The Bureau of Justice Statistics findings, based on the largest data collection of such behavior to date, also showed that electronic monitoring was used to stalk one in 13 victims and video or digital cameras were equally likely as listening devices or bugs to be used to electronically monitor victims (46 percent and 42 percent). Global positioning system technology comprised about a tenth of the electronic monitoring of stalking victims, officials said.
Overall, an estimated 3.4 million people identified themselves as victims of stalking during a 12-month period in 2005 and 2006. About half of them experienced at least one unwanted contact per week from the offender and 11 percent had been stalked for five or more years. The most common types of stalking behaviors were receiving unwanted phone calls from the offender (66 percent), receiving unsolicited letters or e-mail (31 percent), or having rumors spread about them (36 percent). Nearly 75 percent of victims knew their offender in some capacity, and about one-tenth were stalked by a stranger. Read the DOJ report here.
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