America's Forgotten Crime Victims..(Petition to President Obama)
When a stalking victim calls or e-mails DOJ's Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and reports a single stalker, he or she is provided assistance, including referrals to other agencies, referrals to support groups and more.
When a stalking victim calls or e-mails DOJ's Office for Victims of Crime and reports multiple stalkers, he or she is told that "OVC does not provide any direct assistance to victims of multi-stalker incidents."
Why the double standard for stalking victims?
"One-on-one" stalking victims get help from OVC.
Stalking victims reporting multiple stalkers are not helped in any way by OVC, despite the fact that they, too, are victims of a crime.
In 2009, the U.S. Department of justice did a Special Report on stalking:
"Stalking Victimization In The United States" (Pub # NCJ 224527)
This survey of more than 3,400,000 stalking victims found that more than two-thirds (67%) of stalking victims reported a single stalker during the 12 month study period. (2,111,220)
Another 18% of stalking victims reported two stalkers. (619,200)
The remaining 15 percent of stalking victims reported 3 or more stalkers (more than 446,790) during the 12 month study period.
A Freedom Of Information Act Request to DOJ (#10-00169) revealed that of the 446,790 episodes of stalking committed by 3 or more stalkers, more than 4 in 10 "were committed by the offenders working together"....That's more than 200,000 victims of "multiple stalkers working together."
There is a Care 2 Petition to President Obama to instruct the Office for Victims of Crime to offer assistance to ALL stalking victims, regardless of how many stalkers they are reporting.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/775/482/525/
