Online Harassment and Cyberstalking Satistics

http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/stats/index.shtml

Online Harassment/Cyberstalking Statistics

The following report is a result of our continuous efforts to track information in the community we serve. In the past, law enforcement personnel, journalists and lawmakers asked us for demographic information and we found that we could neither provide it nor point them to anyone else who could do so. Although many victims of online harassment and stalking are unwilling to provide demographic information, WHOA has been around long enough to earn our constituency's trust.

With the progression of our society, and ultimately the expansion of the internet, we are now seeing a new medium for abuse. Because it is so difficult to track abusers over the internet, our law enforcement must be even more prepared for any situation. They need to educate themselves more so that they can differentiate situations that occur over the internet. Another profession that will see more emphasis on this issue is crime scene investigation because a crime scene can now be tough to identify. By achieving a masters in forensic psychology, in the times we live, they are more prepared to recognize violence on the internet, but they will need to continue evolving these tactics as criminals evolve their mischief.

In early 2000, we started asking victims for demographic information. The following statistics are based on questionnaires that were filled out in their entirety and is NOT based on the total number of cases handled by WHOA.

WHOA receives an estimated 50-75 cases per week. If victims fill out the entire questionnaire, which includes demographic information, that is what we use to properly calculate our statistics. Our questionnaire is available to view at any time to see how we arrive at the numbers we do. Please direct any questions related to statistics to Statistics Coordinator.

The following are the number of questionnaires filled out in their entirety for each year. These are in .pdf format. You need Adobe Reader or a .pdf reader/converter to view these files. The latter years have better demographic information, based on what law enforcement asked us to try to get.

The very nature of online crimes means that we have little information regarding the harassers, as most victims either don't know their harasser or do not know enough information about them for us to record. However, beginning in 2001 we were able to at least get the gender and location of the harassers. Please note: All of the demographic information we do have is as self-reported by the victims. We have no way to verify it. 

Statistics may be quoted in media and on web sites with appropriate recognition to WHOA. Please let us know if you would like more information or to interview our president, Jayne A. Hitchcock.

WHOA receives 50-75 cases per week. Some of our cases come to us from law enforcement or informally via instant messaging, during speaking engagements or otherwise, and we are unable to gather demographic data on those cases.

Copyright © 1997-2015 WHOA. No reprints without permission. Please notify us of any problems you experience with this site.