January is National Awareness Stalking Month

January is National Stalking Awareness Month, and victim advocates across the country are using this month as an opportunity to educate the public about the pervasive crime that affects nearly 1.4 million Americans a year.

Stalking – typically defined as a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear – is a criminal offense under the laws of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government. Although its prevalence is high, public awareness that stalking is a crime remains dangerously low. One in 12 women and one in 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime, for an average duration of almost two years. Seventy-six percent of female homicide victims were also stalked prior to their death, and more than half of these victims reported stalking to the police before being murdered by their stalkers.

To learn more about stalking and how you can protect yourself, see our Crime Section

“Stalking is often invisible to everyone except the victim,” said Mary Lou Leary, executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime. “Our hope is that National Stalking Awareness Month will serve to bring stalking to the attention of policy makers, law enforcement officials, and the general public so that when stalking victims need help, we will all respond appropriately – doing everything we can to keep them safe and hold offenders accountable for their actions.”

National Stalking Awareness Month, intended to increase the public’s awareness of stalking, was motivated by the death of Peggy Klinke, a stalking victim who was murdered by an ex-boyfriend after repeatedly seeking law enforcement intervention.

Facts about Stalking in America