-
- John Hinkley Jr. was
one. So was Robert Dewey Hoskins
and Margaret Mary Ray.
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- They were stalkers --
a recently categorized breed of
criminal - who pursued former President
Ronald Reagan, singer Madonna and
comedian David Letterman.
-
- Although celebrity
stalking grabs headlines, it's the
spurned lovers and rejected
acquaintances of ordinary victims who are attracting
the attention of
psychiatrists and social scientists involved in domestic
violence.
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- "Stalking is an old behavior, but a new crime,"
explained J. Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist and author of several
books on stalking.
-
- Meloy, speaking Monday at the first Governor's Summit
on
Domestic Violence, said the first laws that made stalking a crime were
enacted only in 1990.
-
- But studies indicate stalking is more prevalent than
usually thought, Meloy said. Over the course of their lifetime, he said,
8 percent of American females and 2 percent of American males will be
stalked.
-
- "Those statistics really surprised us," he
said,
adding that the numbers amount to one in 12 women and 1 in 50 men.
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- Most offenders are
males in their mid-30s, according
to recent studies. They also tend to
have prior psychiatric disorders and
substance-abuse problems.
-
- In addition, Meloy
said, stalkers tend to be more intelligent
than other criminals as
measured by IQ tests.
-
- "This goes to explain why they go to very clever
means and have very manipulative behavior," he added.
-
- Other research
findings, as presented by Meloy, include:
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- Most stalkers are unemployed or
underemployed, given
their intelligence.
-
- The majority of stalkers (60
percent) have had a past
sexual relationship with their victims, while
30 percent have never had
any type of relationship.
-
- Ten percent of
perpetuators have a delusional belief
that they are loved by their
victims.
-
- A
small percentage of victims (2 percent) believe they
are being stalked
when they aren't.
-
- Stalkers who have been rejected by their victims are
the most
violent (with half acting out their violence) and pursue their
victims
the longest (an average of three years).
-
- Although at least half of all
stalkers threaten to hurt
their victims, 75 percent never commit
violence.
-
- The reason most stalkers follow their victims, Meloy
said, is
out of anger at being denied or rejected. The result for victims
is
severe anxiety, depression and trauma.
-
- "The marriage of stalking
research and domestic
violence research is growing," Meloy
said.
-
- The
summit, which runs through today, also focused on
other victims of
domestic violence, including the problem of abuse among
law-enforcement
officers, orders of protection and the relationship between
domestic
violence and sex crimes.
-
- Sarah Buel, a professor at the University of Texas, said
that although law-enforcement officers are doing better in dealing with
domestic violence, too many females are still arrested when they are
simply
victims, and too many low-income male minorities are arrested
because they
don't have the resources to avoid prosecution.
-
- In contrast, sports
stars, politicians and other powerful
people are the most likely to
skirt the laws.
-
- "High-income batterers," Buel said, "just
seem
to walk."
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