Stalking

While legal definitions of stalking vary from one jurisdiction to another, a good working definition of stalking is “a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear”. A few facts about stalking*:

  • The majority of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know.
  • 66% of female victims and 41% of male victims of stalking are stalked by a current or former intimate partner.
  • Women are nearly 3 times more likely to be stalked than men.
  • The majority of stalkers are male.
  • More than half of female victims and more than one-third of male victims were stalked before the age of 25.
  • 11% of stalking victims have been stalked for 5 years or more.
  • 2/3 of stalkers pursue their victims at least once per week, many daily, using more than one method.
  • 78% of stalkers use more than one means of approach.
  • Almost 1/3 of stalkers have stalked before.

Stalking is serious, often violent, and can escalate over time. Some survivors find it useful to fill out a Stalking Incident Log to track individual incidents for a period of time. If you have questions about using this log, please contact RSVP Center staff at RSVP@missouri.edu.

If you think you are being stalked, please call 911, the RSVP Center, True North (formerly The Shelter) or the National Stalking Resource Center hotline: 1-800-FYI-CALL.

“Are You Being Stalked?” Brochure (English)
Stalking Fact Sheet (English / Spanish)

Click here for a list of online resources regarding stalking

For Residential Life staff:
Click to download: National Stalking Awareness Month Bulletin Board

*Sources:
Katrina Baum et al., “Stalking Victimization in the United States,” (Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009).
Michele Black, et al., “The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Summary Report,” (Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011).
Kris Mohandie et al.,“The RECON Typology of Stalking: Reliability and Validity Based upon a Large Sample of North American Stalkers,”Journal of Forensic Sciences, 51, no. 1 (2006).