Casey Jordan

You can't see it coming.

It's like a heat-seeking missile.

But the bottom line is that some of these, the three typologies are going to be what we call the incompetent suitor.

So if somebody is an incompetent suitor, somebody who does not read the room, doesn't get that you are not at all interested in them, but far more common are the other two typologies, which include the person who's seeking intimacy, who thinks that you do love them,

And they suffer from delusions, severe mental disturbance.

And that usually evolves to the worst kind, which is the predatory stalker.

Predatory stalkers are the ones that will escalate into a physical confrontation, including abduction, kidnapping, even murder.

They all, listen, first of all, all stalking is violence.

And we talk about, okay, the physical violence is what we most fear, but I can't even, I've worked with stalkers in many stalking cases.

The psychological and emotional violence of the stalking behavior can be even worse than the fear of physical attack.

But the physical attack will at least be a watershed event that law enforcement takes seriously, right?

So when somebody comes in physical proximity, even though that's what we fear the most, in many ways that is the apex of the stalking behavior that is going to end it.

Because once they make a physical overture towards you, then law enforcement will take it seriously and get involved.

I would argue things are much better than they were 30 years ago when we first saw stalking statutes start passing in all of the states.

But the biggest problem, I would argue, is that the criminal justice system is still extremely male-dominated.

We need the criminal justice system to be handled by practitioners who can put themselves in the shoes of

of the victim, the target, who is trying to get law enforcement and the criminal justice system to assist them in stopping the behavior.

Usually, stalking won't change unless there is intervention and the stalker gets some very serious cognitive behavioral therapy from a counselor or a therapist.

Well, number one, they don't take no for an answer.

And number two, the behavior is repetitive and they will not stop.