Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Antistalking Legislation

1 Domestic Violence, Stalking, andAntistalking Legislation AnAnnual Report to Congress under the Violence Against Women Act Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice National Institute of Justice Research ReportDEPARTMENT OF JUSTICEOFFICE OFJUSTICE PROGRAMSBJANIJOJJDPBJSOVC T he studies reported here were mandated by Title IV, the Violence Against Women Act, of the ViolentCrime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The enabling Legislation is:SUBTITLE F NATIONAL STALKER AND Domestic VIOLENCE REDUCTION SECTION 40610, REPORT TO CONGRESS, WHICH STATES THE FOLLOWING:The Attorney General shall submit to the Congress an annual report, beginning one year after the dateof the enactment of the Act, that provides information concerning the incidence of stalking and Domestic violence, and evaluates the effectiveness of Antistalking efforts and Legislation .

2 Domestic Violence, Stalking, and Antistalking LegislationAn Annual Report to Congress under the Violence Against Women Act National Institute of JusticeA Publication of the National Institute of Justice,Office of Justice Programs, Department of JusticeApril 1996 Department of Justice Office of Justice ProgramsNational Institute of JusticeJeremy Travis, report was edited by Mary Graham, NIJ publications manager, with support from Jolene Hernon,Anne Pritchett, and Patti Schwartz, Cygnus Corporation. The National Institute of Justice acknowl-edges with thanks the contributions of the following reviewers: Office of Policy Development, of Justice; Gwen Holden, executive director; Lisa Doyle Moran, assistant director for legalaffairs; and Nadine Rapacioli, staff attorney, National Criminal Justice Association.

3 And Robert Fein,National Institute of Justice visiting fellow and clinical and forensic report was supported by contract number OJP 94 C 005, awarded to Cygnus Corporation by theNational Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Department of 160943 For more information on the National Institute of Justice, please contact:National Criminal Justice Reference Ser viceBox 6000 Rockville, MD 20849 60001 800 851 3420e-mail: can view or obtain an electronic version of this document from the NCJRS Bulletin Board System(BBS) or the NCJRS Justice Information Center World Wide Web site:To access the BBS, direct dial through your computer modem: 1 301 738 8895 modems should beset at 9600 baud and 8 N 1. Telnet to or gopher to :71 For World Wide Web access, connect to the NCJRS Justice Information Center at: you have any questions, call or e-mail National Institute of Justice is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of JusticeAssistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of 1 Chapter 1: Development of Antistalking Laws.

4 3 Chapter 2: The Characteristics and Legal Issues of Stalking .. 5 Chapter 3: Interventions for Domestic Violence and Stalking .. 9 Chapter 4: Research on Violence Against Women .. 15 Appendix A: Antistalking Code Citations and Constitutional Challenges by State .. A 1 Appendix B: A Model Antistalking Code for the States .. B 1 Appendix C: Principal Recommendations of the Project to Developan Antistalking Model Code .. C 1 Appendix D: Selected Bibliography .. D 1 Appendix E: Threat and Intent Requirements .. E 1 Table of ContentsiiiForewordPassage of the Violence Against Women Act(VAWA), Title IV of the Violent Crime Control andEnforcement Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-322), markeda major change in our national response to crimes suchas Domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

5 TheAct fosters collaboration among law enforcement,health care providers, nonprofit service groups, com-munity leaders, and the private sector. In addition, theAct provides a substantial commitment of Federalresources for police, prosecutors, prevention programs,and victim service initiatives in cases involving thesecrimes. Taken together, these provisions are helpingcommunities throughout our country to develop aseamless system to respond to these important provision of the VAWA directs theAttorney General to submit annual reports to Congressproviding information concerning the incidence ofstalking and the effectiveness of State antistalkingefforts and Legislation . While there is increased aware-ness of the problem of stalking, both in the private andpublic sectors, there is much that we do not stalking has entered the public consciousnessthrough some highly publicized cases, stalking affectsmany people every day, crossing all racial, social,religious, ethnic, and economic lines.

6 We know thatstalking is a crime of terror, power, and control. But wedo not always know how to prevent or respond to thiscomplex crime. To meet the challenge of formulatingan effective criminal justice strategy for combattingstalking, we must increase our knowledge aboutstalkers, intervention techniques, prevention efforts andlaw enforcement policies and Department of Justice is committed to taking ahard look at what is being done nationally to addressthe crime of stalking. As a former victim of stalkingand as the Director of the Violence Against WomenOffice, I support and applaud these efforts. We havebegun a process that may one day bring greater peaceand harmony into the lives of so many innocent victimsand their loved J. CampbellDirectorViolence Against Women OfficeThe Violence Against Women Act, Title VI of theViolent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of1994 (Public Law 103-322), represents a significantturning point in our Nation s efforts to diminish theviolence that undermines the security, health, andhopes of many women.

7 This Legislation reflects therecognition that violence against women is criminal,with far-reaching harmful consequences for families,children, and response to the Act, the National Institute ofJustice (NIJ) is carrying out an extensive research andevaluation program to develop knowledge abouteffective responses to violence against women. Oneelement of the program involves specific studies andreports mandated by the report on Domestic violence, stalking, andantistalking Legislation responds to Subtitle F ofthe Violence Against Women Act, which directs theAttorney General to submit an annual report on of its role in supporting the developmentof the Model State Antistalking Code, NIJ was assignedresponsibility for this report. As yet, little hard dataexist on the incidence of stalking and its relationship todomestic violence.

8 State Antistalking laws have onlyrecently been enacted, and the extent to which the lawsare being used, alone or with other statutes, has not yetbeen measured. This first annual report, therefore,assembles existing information available on these issuesand includes citations for existing State statutes andconstitutional challenges as of January is supporting an exploratory study of the crimeof stalking from the perspective of the victim. Other NIJresearch, which is examining the broader issues offamily violence and violence against women, willcontribute data relating to these crimes and informationuseful for intervention TravisDirectorNational Institute of JusticePrefacevStalking is a distinctive form of criminal activitycomposed of a series of actions (rather than a single act)that taken individually might constitute legal example, sending flowers, writing love notes, andwaiting for someone outside her place of work areactions that, on their own, are not criminal.

9 When theseactions are coupled with an intent to instill fear orinjury, however, they may constitute a pattern ofbehavior that is Domestic situations, stalking typically occurs afterthe woman has attempted to leave the man, unable to accept rejection and unwilling to letthe woman leave, begins to follow, threaten, harass, orassault her. The term separation assault has beencoined to describe this first State Antistalking laws were passed in their passage, police and prosecutors often felthamstrung in their efforts to assist a woman who hadbeen threatened by a stalker. (See the sidebar on thenext page, Laws Change the Response to Stalking. )There were no applicable laws to protect a person fromthis trauma until the perpetrator actually did some-thing to her. Today, 49 States and the District ofColumbia have Legislation that addresses the problemof stalking; and in the 19 States where the laws havebeen challenged on constitutional grounds, they havebeen upheld with only three exceptions.

10 (See AppendixA for constitutional challenges.)Increased awareness of the dimensions and natureof the problem of violence against women, includingstalking and its personal and social costs, culminatedlast year in passage of the Violence Against Women Act,Title IV of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforce-ment Act of 1994 (Public Law 103 322, referred to as the1994 Crime Act).2 This report to Congress responds toSubtitle F of the Act, which directs the Attorney Generalto submit an annual report to Congress providinginformation concerning the incidence of stalking anddomestic violence and the effectiveness of Stateantistalking efforts and first annual report was compiled primarily froma review of published literature about stalking andviolence against women (particularly studies andreports commissioned by the Department of Jus-tice), discussions with researchers and practitionersinvolved in reducing violence against women; and caselaw analysis of Antistalking laws.