U. S. Department of Justice

Unprecedented interest in stalking over the past decade has produced media accounts of stalking victims, passage of antistalking laws in all 50 States and the District of Columbia, and development of a model antistalking code. Despite this interest, research on stalking has been limited to studies of small, unrepresentative, or clinical samples of known stalkers; law journal reviews of the constitutionality and effectiveness of specific antistalking statutes; and case studies of individual stalkers. Thus, empirical data have been lacking on such fundamental questions about stalking as: - How much stalking is there in the United States?- Who stalks whom?- How often do stalkers overtly threaten their victims?- How often is stalking reported to the police?- What are the psychological and social consequences of stalking? This Research in Brief presents data from the first-ever national study on stalking and addresses these and related questions. Since the data show stalking to be much more prevalent than previously thought and include other findings of broad public concern, they have significance for legislators, policymakers, intervention planners, and researchers as well as the public health and criminal justice communities. The data are from the National Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey, a nationally representative telephone survey of 8,000 U. S. women and 8,000 U. S. men (see "Survey Methodology and Demographic Description of the Sample," page 15). The survey, which asked detailed questions about respondents' experiences with violence, including stalking, was sponsored jointly by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through a grant to the Center for Policy Research.

You probably realize that there are both federal courts and state courts. The two kinds of courts are a result of a principle of our Constitution called federalism. Federalism gives some functions to the United States government and leaves the other functions to the states. The functions of the U. S.-or federal-government involve the nation as a whole and include regulating commerce between the states and with foreign countries, providing for the national defense, and administering federal lands and other property. State governments perform most of the functions you probably associate with "government," such as running the schools, managing the police departments, and paving the streets. Federal courts are established by the U. S. government to decide disputes concerning the federal Constitution and laws passed by Congress, called statutes. State courts are established by a state, or by a county or city within the state. Although state courts must enforce the federal Constitution and laws, most of the cases they decide involve the constitution and laws of the particular state.

A list and description of the hijackers of September 11 terrorist attack in New York. The success of the September 11 plot depended on the ability of the hijackers to obtain visas and pass an immigration and customs inspection in order to enter the United States. It also depended on their ability to remain here undetected while they worked out the operational details of the attack. If they had failed on either count-entering and becoming embedded-the plot could not have been executed. Here we present the facts and circumstances of the hijackers' travel operation, including their 25 contacts with consular officers and their 43 contacts with immigration and customs authorities. We also discuss the 12 contacts with border authorities by other September 11 conspirators who applied for a visa. The narrative is chronological, retracing the hijackers' steps from their initial applications for U. S. visas, through their entry into the United States, to their applications for immigration benefits, and up through their acquisition of state identifications that helped them board the planes. Along the way, we note relevant actions by U. S. government authorities to combat terrorism. There were a few lucky breaks for U. S. border authorities in this story. Mostly, though, it is a story of how 19 hijackers easily penetrated U. S. border security.