Senate Supports National Stalking Awareness Month

On November 10, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a resolution (S. Con. Res. 10) establishing January 2006 as “National Stalking Awareness Month.”

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

• Stalking is a crime that cuts across race, culture, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, and economic status;
• An estimated 1 million women and 370,990 men are stalked annually in the United States, and in the majority of such cases, the person is stalked by someone who is not a stranger;
• Eighty-one percent of women who are stalked by an intimate partner also are physically assaulted by that partner, and seventy-six percent of women who are killed by an intimate partner also were stalked by that partner;
• Twenty-six percent of stalking victims lose time from work as a result of their victimization, and seven percent of these victims never return to work;
• There are national organizations, local victim service organizations, prosecutors’ offices, and police departments that stand ready to assist stalking victims and are working diligently to craft competent, thorough, and innovative responses to stalking; and
• There is a need to enhance the criminal justice system’s response to stalking and stalking victims, including aggressive investigation and prosecution.