Stalking Perceptions and Prevalence

England and Wales implemented its first antistalking legislation, the Protection From Harassment Act, in June 1997. This followed an increase in public concern over stalking due to media attention, celebrity stalking cases, and pressure from groups of stalking victims. It became widely accepted that stalking was a serious social problem in England and Wales and that there was clear justification for criminalizing this type of harassment. However, a legal description of stalking was never provided, and no accepted definition of stalking currently exists. There are no figures detailing the extent of the problem or detailed explanations of the motives of stalkers. Likewise, there are few data on who stalkers or their victims are likely to be. It may be said, then, that those countries that have initiated antistalking legislation are attempting to deal with an essentially unknown quantity. This article seeks to investigate two stalking-related issues: how English and Welsh women perceive the crime and the prevalence of stalking and stalking-related acts in a female population.