Traditional Crime Now a Cybercrime: Stalking to Cyber-Stalking

Stalking to Cyber-Stalking
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Stalking to Cyber-Stalking
Stalking and cyber-stalking are criminal offenses. In particular, stalking entails following an individual by watching the said person to his or her business, place of residence, or any other location that the individual visit for leisure or social activity (Campbell & Moore, 2011). Common stalking behaviors include making suspicious phone calls, spying on an individual, waiting for a person, showing up at the place where an individual is without legitimate reasons, sending unsolicited letters, and leaving unwanted flowers, items, and gifts. In contrast, cyber-stalking entails the use of cell phones, the Internet, and other electronic communication to stalk an individual. Indeed, it might involve threats, identity theft, and false accusations. The paper focuses on how stalking has evolved into cyber-stalking.
Stalking is a criminal behavior that is meant to intimidate the victim. In the United States of America (USA), it was recognized as a crime in 1990 (Campbell & Moore, 2011). The stalker engages in this criminal behavior to remain in contact with the victim and exercise power over the person. In addition, the stalker’s actions cause fear, loss of control, distress, or harassment to another individual. In some cases, stalking leads to threats or sexual harassment as the stalker tries to induce fear in his or her victim. The individual being stalked might not notice it at first. However, behavioral patterns can help an individual know whether he or she is being stalked. For example, a person might get unwanted gifts or flowers left at home or meet with the stalker frequently at different places, such as in the neighborhood, shopping mall, school, or parking lot.
Currently, stalking has evolved to cyber-stalking. Stalkers have turned to social media to follow their victims instead of doing it physically, which might appear risky. They usually use social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat. These platforms enable individuals to share their personal information with virtual friends, such as names, physical addresses, birthdates, and educational backgrounds (Drebing et al., 2014). Stalkers gather all the information they want about their victims. They create a profile that enables them to know their victims’ behaviors, hobbies, and other personal details. By using this information, it becomes easy to stalk their victims, such as knowing their victims’ actual locations, which can make them appear unknowingly. Perpetrators of cyber-stalking can be challenging to tell since they can hide by observing their victims silently on the Internet.
The technology is highly dynamic, and almost every day new apps and websites are launched to enhance individuals’ communication and socialization. Today, geographical location is no longer a barrier since people from different places can reach out to each other at any time. Similarly, cyber-stalking is improving with the same ...