Statewide Study of Stalking and Its Criminal Justice Response in Rhode Island, 2001-2005

The research team collected data from statewide datasets on 268 stalking cases including a population of 108 police identified stalking cases across Rhode Island between 2001 and 2005 with a sample of 160 "researcher identified stalking incidents" (incidents that met statutory criteria for stalking but were cited by police for other domestic violence offenses) during the same period. The secondary data used for this study came from the Rhode Island Supreme Court Domestic Violence Training and Monitoring Unit's (DVU) statewide database of domestic violence incidents reported to Rhode Island law enforcement. Data on all incidents of domestic violence, arrests and non-arrests, are submitted to the DVU by Rhode Island law enforcement agencies using the legislatively mandated Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault/Child Molestation Police Reporting Form (DV/SA form) and incident reports of domestic abuse and/or sexual assault/child molestation. Prior criminal history data were obtained from records of all court cases entered into the automated Rhode Island court file, CourtConnect, through the last record check on July 16, 2008. The automated records contained all felony court cases entered from 1979 and misdemeanors from the mid-1980's onward.