Dr. Ryan Williams, associate professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at UIS, has contributed his expertise to the popular Netflix documentary series, I am a Stalker. Production crew and campus interviews occurred in March 2022, and Williams spent hours speaking with the producers, who he says were “curious and open to listening to what the scholarly literature has found on the topic.”
“Criminologists rarely get asked by the media to discuss crimes other than violent murders, which make up a small percentage of violent crimes,” Williams says.
The series interviews stalkers, their victims, and experts in an attempt to recognize and explain this criminal behavior and to expose the weakness of the legal system in protecting victims. According to the series and studies of violence risk factors, nearly 40 percent of stalking cases escalate to violence.
Williams appears in Episode 2, “One Last Chance,” of the series.
“Stalking behavior remains a very misunderstood crime,” Williams says. Varied definitions of stalking and different ways of measuring stalking behaviors across research studies makes a full understanding of the behavior difficult, he states.
Williams notes that stalking is an ancient practice but a very modern crime. “As we have given up more and more of our privacy, stalking behaviors have been normalized, minimized and even romanticized through various cultural institutions. Movies and TV shows often portray stalking behaviors as ‘paying off’ and that persistent pursuit is merely evidence of eventual ‘true love.’”
“As a criminologist, I encourage and welcome more informed and scholarly approaches to depictions of violent behaviors in the media,” he says.
When approached by the producers, Williams saw an opportunity to participate in a show that included both the perspectives of the offender and the victims. “I also appreciated the opportunity to discuss the many difficulties victims have when dealing with the criminal justice system and its inability to deal with the complexities of an over-simplified behavior,” he says.
According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, about 1 of 3 women and 1 of 6 men have been stalked during their lifetimes. Williams explains that stalking is a gender-neutral crime, but that men are disproportionately stalkers and women disproportionately victims.
“Victims experience a range of negative psychological effects, including anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and post-traumatic stress disorder,” Williams says. “They may even resort to suicide. These reactions persist even after the stalking stops, and many times, victims’ friends, relatives, and co-workers experience these effects too.”
“Because research on stalking is limited,” Williams says, “many service providers and police lack comprehensive knowledge to treat stalking victims effectively.”
Victim advocates are important supports for stalking victims. As Williams notes, “Women are less likely to contact the police when their offender is known to them and prefer to turn to more resources that are not linked to law enforcement, mostly due to the fear of repercussions by their stalker.”
Stalking is a unique category of violent offense in that the victim often does not want the offender to be arrested or charged or even lose their job, Williams says. “They just want to be left alone and feel safe. Many stalking victims understand the limits of the criminal justice system to protect them from harm.”
Williams’ advice? “Stalking may be an area where communities might consider redirecting resources from law enforcement-related solutions toward more family and individual counseling, for both victim and offender.”