Stalking is a prevalent, dangerous, and often misunderstood crime. This webinar, presented for the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, explores the dynamics of stalking, focusing on the highly contextual nature of the crime by discussing common tactics used by perpetrators, stalking’s co-occurrence with domestic violence as well as tools to plan for victim safety and hold offenders accountable.
Stalking inflicts severe emotional and psychological harm on victims, often causing heightened anxiety, fear, and a pervasive sense of insecurity. Stalking serves as a significant risk factor for intimate partner homicide, as it often indicates escalating violence and a heightened level of danger within the relationship. This webinar, hosted by the Domestic Violence Resource for Increasing Safety and Connection (DV RISC), highlights the research behind stalking, illustrates how stalking is flagged in some IPV risk assessments, and identifies practical steps that can be taken once it is indicated on a risk assessment.
When offenders engage in a course of conduct that includes sexual exploitation, they perpetrate dangerous and often misidentified and misunderstood crimes, including stalking and sex trafficking. Both crimes are highly contextual in nature and require a nuanced analysis of the relationship between the offender and the victim, as well as the various tactics utilized by abusers to control, intimidate, and traumatize victims with impunity. Stalking behaviors are used to force or coerce individuals to engage in commercial sexual activities or to intimidate and prevent them from engaging with the criminal justice system. This presentation provides strategies to improve the identification of these “course of conduct” crimes, increase offender accountability through successful investigations and prosecutions, and minimize further harm to victims and survivors by ensuring they are connected with meaningful services and tools to plan for their safety.
From popular media to casual conversations, the crime of stalking is consistently minimized and misrepresented. While this normalization does not cause stalkers to stalk, the vast scope of misrepresentation contributes to an environment in which stalking becomes harder to identify, respond to, and/or adjudicate. Identifying and assessing stalking – and its dangerousness – requires us to recognize and reflect on the messages we’ve received and how we might combat the misperceptions that can plague our response efforts. Through media examples, this webinar explores different ways that stalking is misconstrued and normalized, examines the impacts of this normalization, and offers suggestions for how to combat this misinformation.
Stalking survivors are the experts on what it’s like to be stalked — and what responders can do to help. This webinar features a panel of stalking survivors and activists who will discuss their own experiences. They will reflect on what was helpful, challenges they encountered, and how victim service providers and criminal justice responders can better enhance stalking victim safety. SPARC Director Jennifer Landhuis moderates this panel, which includes National Stalking Awareness Month (NSAM) founder Debbie Riddle and more inspiring and insightful speakers.
January 2024 is the 20th Annual National Stalking Awareness Month (NSAM) — and we need your help to make it the loudest one yet! This webinar highlights ready-to-use resources, programs, and strategies to raise awareness in your programs and communities this NSAM and beyond.
Nearly half stalking offenders are current or former intimate partners. All stalkers can be dangerous, but current/former intimate partners are generally more threatening, violent, and interfering than other stalkers and may stalk their victims before, during, and/or after the relationship. It is important to identify stalking separate from and in addition to concurring intimate partner violence. In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), this webinar highlights the significant connections between stalking and intimate partner violence.
Stalking is criminal, traumatic, dangerous and often misunderstood. This webinar provides an introduction to the crime of stalking, focusing on the definition, prevalence, dynamics, behaviors, and intersections with other victimizations (including intimate partner violence). This recurring webinar is offered quarterly to provide foundational knowledge on the crime of stalking.
When responding to and supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) stalking victims, most of the same stalking information, behaviors, risks, and safety planning considerations apply as when working with the general population. In addition, it is critical to consider specific issues that may affect LGBTQ+ stalking victims. In this webinar, SPARC and FORGE discuss working with LGBTQ+ individuals who may be experiencing stalking and our collaboratively published Guide on the same topic.
Stalking is criminal, traumatic, dangerous and often misunderstood. This webinar provides an introduction to the crime of stalking, focusing on the definition, prevalence, dynamics, behaviors, and intersections with other victimizations (including intimate partner violence). This recurring webinar is offered quarterly to provide foundational knowledge on the crime of stalking.
Stalking is a prevalent, dangerous, and often misunderstood crime and individuals ages 18-24 experience the highest rate of stalking. This presentation explores stalking on college campuses by discussing the dynamics of stalking, common tactics used by perpetrators, stalking’s co-occurrence with other victimizations, and the importance of looking beyond one discrete incident to fully explore any related pattern of behavior.
Stalking is a high risk factor for intimate partner homicide. Building an effective stalking case means asking the right questions, collecting needed evidence, and constantly assessing for victim safety. In this session, SPARC partners with the Domestic Violence Resource for Increasing Safety and Connection (DV RISC), exploring strategies to assess risk and promote victim safety by focusing on the diverse tactics stalkers may utilize, documentation strategies, and safety options for victims and survivors.
Sexual violence and stalking are both prevalent, commonly misunderstood, and severely underreported victimizations. In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, this webinar explores the intersection of stalking and sexual violence, focusing on similarities, co-occurrence, and strategies to support victims and survivors.
Stalking is a crime that warrants special attention by courts because victims report experiencing stalking at much higher rates than the justice system identifies it. Stalking can appear in any type of case and so judicial officers should consider stalking in all types of legal proceedings; it is particularly important to look for indicators when the parties know one another and/or there is evidence of ongoing harmful contact. Whichever type of case stalking occurs in, judicial officers are encouraged to make specific findings of fact regarding stalking and issue detailed orders designed to stop stalking behaviors, hold offenders accountable, and prevent dangerous consequences. This webinar will assist judicial officers in identifying stalking behaviors and effectively responding to stalking as a standalone issue and as it intersects with other family and civil court cases.
In this webinar, participants are encouraged to view an offender’s conduct against a victim through a holistic—rather than episodic—lens and participants learn how stalking charges can provide the critical link between seemingly isolated instances. After discussing common stalking behaviors, presenters discuss how criminal justice system actors and allied professionals can enhance their response, including methods for investigating and prosecuting stalking offenses. Instead of considering stalking crimes to be too complex or as an afterthought to other offenses, participants will view these charges as key to holding offenders accountable for the full scope of their criminality.
We all have a role to play in identifying stalking and supporting victims and survivors. To commemorate National Stalking Awareness Month, NCALL (National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life) partnered with SPARC to host this webinar, which examines stalking in the context of elder abuse – its prevalence, dynamics, implications, and resources available for survivors. As a result of this session, viewers will be better able to recognize stalking behavior, understand how stalking impacts older adults, and identify resources to improve their response to stalking.
OVW, in partnership with the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center (SPARC) will convene Showcasing Success: National Stalking Awareness Month, a virtual event to shine a light on promising practices and innovative approaches to combating stalking. From implementing new law enforcement strategies to launching informative awareness campaigns, it takes a multidisciplinary and multifaceted approach to best recognize and respond to stalking. In recognition of National Stalking Awareness Month, the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women joins the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, & Resource Center (SPARC) to highlight innovative approaches to addressing stalking across the country from DOJ OVW grantees including Pitt County (NC) Sheriff’s Office, West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services, and Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia.
When offenders engage in a course of conduct that includes sexual exploitation, they perpetrate dangerous and often misidentified and misunderstood crimes, including stalking and sex trafficking. Both crimes are highly contextual in nature and require a nuanced analysis of the relationship between the offender and the victim, as well as the various tactics utilized by abusers to control, intimidate, and traumatize victims with impunity. Stalking behaviors are used to force or coerce individuals to engage in commercial sexual activities or to intimidate and prevent them from engaging with the criminal justice system.
Nearly half stalking offenders are current or former intimate partners. All stalkers can be dangerous, but current/former intimate partners are generally more threatening, violent, and interfering than other stalkers and may stalk their victims before, during, and/or after the relationship. It is important to identify stalking separate from and in addition to concurring intimate partner violence. In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM), this webinar highlights the significant connections between stalking and intimate partner violence.
Keeping victims safe and holding offenders accountable requires that diverse professionals — including (but not limited to) victim advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors, educators, and others — view their work through a “stalking lens,” taking pro-active steps to incorporate a stalking response into their roles and to work together. This webinar was part of the 2022 series for the OVW Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Grant Program (ICJR Program) grantees and provides practical strategies for building stalking into a coordinated community response (CCR).
Despite its prevalence, stalking is rarely investigated or charged. Building an effective stalking case means asking the right questions, collecting needed evidence, and constantly assessing for victim safety. This webinar was part of the 2022 series for the OVW Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Grant Program (ICJR Program) grantees and explores how victim service providers, including law enforcement and prosecutors, can better investigate and charge stalking.
Stalking recognition and response should be integrated into awareness education, safety planning, and adjudication on campuses. Though stalking victimization is prevalent among young adults and covered under the Clery Act, stalking is rarely addressed on college campuses to the same degree as intimate partner and/or sexual violence. The geographic and social realities of college campuses can present unique challenges and opportunities for stalking cases. This webinar discusses the dynamics of stalking on college campuses and provides practical tools to better keep students safe and hold offenders accountable.
Sexual violence and stalking are both prevalent, commonly misunderstood, and severely underreported victimizations. In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, this webinar explores the intersection of stalking and sexual violence, focusing on similarities, co-occurrence, and strategies to support victims and survivors.
Keeping victims safe and holding offenders accountable requires that diverse professionals — including (but not limited to) victim advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors, educators and others — view their work through a “stalking lens,” take pro-active steps to incorporate a stalking response into their roles, and work together. In honor of National Stalking Awareness Month, this session will provide practical strategies for building stalking into a coordinated community response.
Stalking is a serious, prevalent, and dangerous crime that impacts every community in the United States. While awareness and public discussion of intimate partner violence and sexual assault have increased in recent years, stalking remains frequently misunderstood and rarely discussed – on campuses, within the fields of domestic and sexual violence, in our criminal justice system, and among the broader general public. This webinar highlights strategies and tools to create and elevate discourse on stalking.
About half of stalking cases are related to intimate partner violence – which means that half are not. Even when the stalking is not related to domestic violence, the response to stalking is typically housed under domestic violence or rape crisis services. Do you serve all victims of stalking – even when offenders are friends, acquaintances, family members, or strangers? This webinar explores the prevalence and dynamics of non-intimate partner stalkers, including strategies to assess risk and plan for victim safety.
Stalking impacts people of all ages — including older adults. In honor of National Stalking Awareness Month 2021, the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (NCALL) and the Stalking Prevention, Awareness and Resource Center (SPARC) present this webinar on how stalking impacts adults in later life.
Debbie Riddle’s youngest sister, Peggy Klinke, was brutally murdered by a stalker on January 18, 2003. Less than 6 months later, Debbie – in collaboration with other national stakeholders – successfully launched National Stalking Awareness Month. Though stalking behavior is nothing new, its recognition as a crime is relatively recent. In honor of NSAM 2021, Debbie Riddle will join SPARC to consider the current state of stalking responses in the United States. Using Peggy’s case as an example, the session will reflect on the diversity of stalking behaviors, the impact(s) on victims, and look ahead to how criminal justice and victim service providers can best serve victims and survivors.
Stalking is a prevalent, dangerous and often misunderstood crime. This webinar introduces SPARC and explores the dynamics of stalking, focusing on the highly contextual nature of the crime by discussing common tactics used by perpetrators, and stalking’s co-occurrence with domestic and sexual violence. Tools to plan for victim safety and hold offenders accountable are discussed.
Stalking is a serious, prevalent, and dangerous crime that impacts every community in the United States. While awareness and public discussion of intimate partner violence and sexual assault have increased in recent years, stalking remains frequently misunderstood and rarely discussed – on campuses, within the fields of domestic and sexual violence, and among the broader general public. This webinar highlights the newly updated “Know It, Name It, Stop It” scripted public awareness program from SPARC and provides tools and strategies to incorporate stalking education into existing programming.
While the Covid-19 pandemic can limit survivor options and exacerbate victims’ isolation, stalkers may exploit health concerns and social distancing to continue or even escalate their stalking behaviors. This webinar will highlight Covid-19’s potential impacts on stalking victims and provide strategies for service providers to enhance support and safety.
Stalking is a traumatizing and dangerous crime that frequently co-occurs with physical violence – including homicide. This webinar explores strategies and tools to recognize stalking behaviors, plan for victim safety, and document stalking incidents.
Join the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence and SPARC for a 90-minute webinar focusing on the intersection of teen dating violence and stalking.
Stalking is a traumatic crime in its own right that often co-occurs with sexual and physical violence, including homicide. This session explores strategies to assess risk and promote victim safety, focusing on the diverse tactics stalkers may utilize, documentation strategies and safety options for victims and survivors.