ABSTRACT
Introduction .................................................................................................. 428 Harassment .......................................................................................... 428 Course of Conduct Crime .................................................................. 429 Concept of Credible Threat ................................................................ 429 Course of Conduct and the Issue of Harassment............................. 430 The Issue of a Credible Threat ........................................................... 431
Working with Police on Stalking Cases....................................................... 432 Vertical Prosecution of Stalking Cases ........................................................ 434 The Issuing Decision .................................................................................... 436
Victim Safety Is Always First .............................................................. 436 Interviewing the Victim................................................................................ 439 How Strong Should the Case Be? ................................................................ 440
Rule #1: Don’t Issue the Case Unless You Can Prove It ................... 440 Rule #2: Don’t Give Up! “Monitor” All Cases................................... 441 Victim Assistance through Education................................................ 441 Safety Planning .................................................................................... 442 Purpose of Informing the Victim....................................................... 444 Being Creative...................................................................................... 446
Stalking Case Scenario One — The Neighborhood Terrorist ................... 447 Stalking Case Scenario Two — An Obsessed Psychiatric Patient ............. 449 Non-Traditional “Crazy” Stalkers — Does Prosecution Work? ................ 451 Conclusion..................................................................................................... 454 Bibliography .................................................................................................. 454 Recommended Reading List......................................................................... 455 About the Contributing Author .................................................................. 455
Prior to 1990 victims of stalking were often left to fend for themselves in the face of harassing and threatening behavior. Unless the stalker physically hurt them (or committed some other crime such as kidnap, rape, robbery, etc.) police officers’ hands were essentially tied because no “crime” had been committed. Much to the consternation of well-intentioned officers, a common refrain heard from such victims was “What do I have to do — wait until he kills me?” But in 1989, the shocking murder of actress Rebecca Lynn Schaeffer by an obsessed fan, Robert John Bardo, and the senseless murder of three other women who had been stalked in Southern California changed the course of harassment laws forever.
