Senate Committee Supports National Stalking Awareness Month - Women's Congressional Policy Institute

On October 30, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved, by voice vote, a resolution (S. Con. Res. 58) to raise awareness and encourage the prevention of stalking in the United States.

Sponsored by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), the resolution contains a number of findings, including:

an estimated 1,006,970 women and 370,990 men are stalked annually in the United States and, in the majority of cases, the person is stalked by someone who is not a stranger; and
81 percent of women who are stalked by an intimate partner also are physically assaulted by that partner, and 76 percent of women who are killed by an intimate partner also were stalked by that intimate partner.

Prior to final approval, the committee adopted, by voice vote, a substitute amendment by Sen. DeWine that would specify the date of “National Stalking Month” as January 2004.