Stalker

The sly crime of stalking has become outstanding recently. Stalkers follow ex-girlfriends or celebrities persistently. In many of the cases, the victims don't know somebody else follows them. Stalkers sometimes give bodily injuries to the targets.

There are mainly three types of stalkers.

1. To follow ex-lovers or spouses stickily
2. To follow celebrities such as TV talents, singers, or newscasters.
3. To give harassment to favorite counterparts.

One-way partiality has in common in any types. From the psychological points of view, there seems to be a lack of human relationship, stemming mostly from ill relations in childhood with mothers. They have a tendency to rely on someone. Once stalkers find favorite counterparts, they look for the same relationship that is not realized in childhood. And then they come to believe that opponents are also interested in them like mothers love kids unconditionally. If stalkers are not successful in having good relationship with the counterparts, they give harassment. This explanation is not applied to all stalkers, but fundamentally it's right I think.

The main reason for the increasing number of the crime in Japan is also this lack of human contact. There was a best seller 30 years ago in Japan called "Amae no Kozo"(The anatomy of dependence) written by Takeo Doi, which is translated into English. The Japanese people have a tendency to depend on someone. As the author's analysis of the people, Japan has the potential stalkers. Actually, it seems to me that there are a lot of people who have not become adults. Seeing the recent selfish incidents, I can't resist thinking so. Especially today's young people don't know how to come in contact with others. Parents are so busy that they have no time to contact kids. There are many occasions in which kids play alone with TV games. When they including adults come in contact with favorite counterparts, some of them might draw attention by stalking.

To deepen the understanding of stalking activities, I introduce the cases overseas first. The most famous and lament incident was the super music star, John Lennon's case. He was shot by one of his great funs near the entrance of his mansion when he was back home. It was said that the killer suffered from mental illness. According to his confessions, he killed John in great anger because he was disillusioned by the recent John's words and deeds. This is No 2 type among the three above. Another famous one was the attempted assassination of Ronald Regan, the President of the United of States. The shooter fired a gun at the President because he wanted to draw attention of his favorite movie star, Jody Foster. Although he was just one of her funs, he was possessed with the idea that she also loved him. Stalking is not limited to celebrities. It's also seen in ordinary people.

What Stalking drew attention as a crime in Japan was triggered by an incident that happened in October 1999. A 21-year-old lady was stubbed to death by her stalkers in the front of a station in Saitama prefecture. One of the stalkers was her ex boy friend who committed suicide afterward. She was persistently followed and threatened by the ex boy friend and his family. Although she went to the police for responding to the stalking activities, the police did nothing because of the principal of no intervening civil cases. She was finally killed by 4 members of the stalkers.

In order to response to the voices of the victims triggered by the incident, the Stalking Regulation Law was legislated in November 2000. When staking sufferers call police, the police give warnings to the stalkers to stop stalking. If they don't stop it, the prefecture public safety commission will give prohibition order. Even though they continue to stalk, they are fined up to 1 million yen or in jail less than one year. For the period of 6 month from January to July 2001, 66 stalkers were arrested by the newly legislated law according to the National Police Agency.

Although the act of regulating staking activities was legalized, it could happen to you. Even though you are taking such preventive measures as not telling your address so easily or slicing your received mails before damping, if you feel that you are stalked, you better do as below.

1. To change your courses of going home or commuting to office sometimes.
2. Not to reply to silent telephones
3. To call police before it goes serious

Stalking can also be seen on the web, so called net stalkers. E-mail users suddenly receive such threat mails as "I know your address and telephone number. I'll watch you all the time" In this case, net stalkers are familiar with computer technologies or hacking know-hows. They know how to get private information on the web. Even net stalkers without much knowledge about commuters could do it if you don't hesitate to tell E-mail addresses to anybody else to your delight of getting through the Internet. Net stalking is also applied to the Stalking Regulation Law. Besides keeping the records of net stalking as evidence, you have to take preventive measures such as severe control of your personal information at ordinary times on the net.

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