What is stalking?

Behavior wherein an individual willfully and repeatedly engages in a knowing course of harassing conduct directed at another person which reasonably and seriously alarms, torments, or terrorizes that person.

Stalking involves one person's obsessive behavior toward another person. Initially, stalking will usually take the form of annoying, threatening, or obscene telephone calls, emails or letters. The calls may start with one or two a day but can quickly increase in frequency. Stalkers may conduct covert surveillance of the victim, following every move his target makes. Even the victim's home may be staked out.

Virginia's anti-stalking laws may prevent some people from stalking, but this has not yet been proven. Many will stop after they have been arrested, prosecuted, and/or convicted. Unfortunately, most stalkers are not stopped by laws. Studies of stalkers indicate that they stop when their target is no longer available to them, or they find someone else to harass.

What can be done about it?

Stalking makes a victim doubt reality and wonder if there is anything that can really be done to stop the stalker. Yet there are practical steps that a person being stalked can take. These steps, in concert with efforts by law enforcement, University administrators, and allies, can help her or him begin to regain some control over her/his life.

>> Download a stalker tracking form in .pdf format. (Get Adobe Acrobat)

A stalker tracking form can help you record stalking incidents - use it as a model to create your own form, or write on it directly.