According to the Bureau of Justice statistics, nearly 7% of Americans (14 million men and women) have served time in State or Federal prison. This number doesn’t reflect the number of misdemeanor, traffic related, or non-custodial sentence crimes which is estimated to include almost 20% of the American public. Some of these crimes represent violent offenses. However the vast majority of American’s with a criminal record have a record for a non-violent felony or a misdemeanor. The current trend in issuing diversions or probationary sentences as opposed to going through a costly and time consuming trial has virtually guaranteed that this number will continue to rise.
The ease of access to personal records has created unexpected and disturbing trends in stalking. Data services and internet detectives, which provide personal data on anyone for fees as low as $19.00, are used by familiar stalkers in an attempt to find or keep tabs on ex-partners or “love” interests. However, with unlimited search deals on some popular web detective sites (some sites offering unlimited searches for a set number of days for less than $40.00) many people are taking a dig around in the personal lives of their neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and virtually anyone else. With 1 out of every 15 Americans having some sort of criminal record, this unchecked access to personal details has resulted in a wave of stalking, harassment, blackmail, and vigilante related attacks.
Just as there are different types of stalkers, there are different reasons that stalkers use the existence of criminal records to harass and intimidate their victims. The familiar stalker may use the information in an effort to control the victim.
“If we get back together, I won’t tell anyone about your record.”
Others familiar to the victim may become a sort of familiar stalker by using the information to acquire money or to illicit a certain response.
“If you don’t stop dating my daughter, I will tell your boss about your criminal record and get you fired.”
Or
“If you don’t give me full custody, I will expose your record.”
Or
“Pay me $5,000.00 or I will tell everyone about your past.”
Delusional stalkers may see a common past as a shared past. This type of stalker often reads meaning into any common life element. If the common thread is an illicit past or a potential embarrassing “skeleton,” the delusional stalker may see this as further proof that their destinies are linked. Since many delusional stalkers never meet or interact with the victim, the stalker may feel that they are a “keeper” of the secret. However, for many delusional stalkers, discovering that the object of their affection is somehow less than perfect can trigger extreme and even violent or deadly reaction. For some, this reaction manifests itself in the desire to publicly destroy the victim as punishment for being less than perfect.
If a vengeful stalker is able to unearthing some form of criminal record in the background of the victim, their ability to harass and terrorize increases dramatically. Since the vengeful stalker’s entire reason for existence is the destruction and humiliation of the victim, the ability to “expose” some past offense to the victim’s family, friends, clients, employer, co-workers, or the general public is ideal.
The stalker may view the existence of a criminal record as justification for the stalking and harassment. Some may genuinely convince themselves that they are within their ethical and legal rights to do so. But most stalkers don’t see the victim as a human being, just something to be controlled, used, or destroyed. Therefore, a criminal record is simply another weapon in the stalkers arsenal.
Unfortunately, people that have a criminal record of some sort are often hesitant to contact the police when crimes are committed against them. This may be out of embarrassment or out of fear that the existence of a record will prevent the police from acting on their behalf. It may be due to bad experiences with the police or a lack of faith in the legal system. At one time, these fears may have been well founded, especially for victims that reside in small communities. However, police are charged with the responsibility of investigating and helping to prevent all crime, even if that crime is perpetrated against someone who has made an error in judgment in their past. Stalking and harassment are crimes; the fact that the stalker has targeted a person with a criminal record is irrelevant. In many states, stalkers who reprint the victim’s criminal record for dissemination may also be breaking additional laws. The use or reprint of finger prints, finger print record numbers, internal identification tags, “mug” shots, any dismissed charges, and social security numbers are strictly prohibited under most state laws and in some cases, federal law.
Anyone who is being stalked or harassed should contact the police for advice and assistance. Provided that you are honest with the police about any criminal record that you have, the existence of a past error shouldn’t be a hindrance to getting help from legal authorities.
