Harassment is a crime that can range from minor to extreme. Harassment can be verbal, physical, emotional, stalking, or now, online. This crime is often under reported and statistics can be misleading. Victims of harassment vary from the unfazed to the severely traumatized. Courts can easily become overwhelmed and burdened with minor issues and harassment has typically been found to be a nuisance crime. However, the courts have recently began seeing harassment as a gateway crime to assaults and domestic violence; causing our system to examine these incidents and become more ardent with consequences. The typical victim of harassment is viewed as female. This has been historical, with the courts viewing males as aggressors or being able
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Many people, at some time or another, are the victims of harassment. Harassment can be found anytime there is interaction between people. According to Meriam-Webster, harassment is “to make repeated attacks against” a person (2016). Harassment comes in many forms, including, physical, emotional, and mental. Quite often, one form of harassment includes another. When we think of harassment we rarely view the victim as male. There are many reasons for this view. Mainstream society views the male as the usual offender. When a male is a victim of harassment, the victim typically does not report the crime, views himself as just dealing with the issue, and feels that the courts do not value the thought of the male victim. This distorted viewpoint allows the perpetrators to continue their unwanted behaviors and propagates the societal prejudice against the male …show more content…
However, NC judges have a wide latitude in the sentencing and review of reports of harassment. The narrowed area of review are incidents involving domestic concerns. NC General Statutes in chapter 50B cover this area and provide direct governance and guidelines to be followed. Law enforcement officials receive direct training and advanced training for disposition and handling of domestic involved cases. The statutes are clear when an arrest and referrals are to be made. Preliminary investigations are the pivotal catalyst in determining actions of police. Upon finding cause for an arrest, the offender is placed into the judicial system for immediate action by the courts and outside participating agencies. The majority of harassment offenses are reported by females and immediate actions are taken. When a male victim reports harassment, there tends to be a lax approach from law enforcement and resources for the male victim are strikingly less available. Eckore stated, “the laws and guidelines are often written as if harassment were a crime perpetuated solely by men toward women” (2012). Law enforcement tends to process the male victim through the system with less vigilance and urgency. Stalking was considered a nuisance crime for many years and the best advice was to ignore the behavior. However, in recent years this has changed due to research of incidents.
Many people, at some time or another, are the victims of harassment. Harassment can be found anytime there is interaction between people. According to Meriam-Webster, harassment is “to make repeated attacks against” a person (2016). Harassment comes in many forms, including, physical, emotional, and mental. Quite often, one form of harassment includes another. When we think of harassment we rarely view the victim as male. There are many reasons for this view. Mainstream society views the male as the usual offender. When a male is a victim of harassment, the victim typically does not report the crime, views himself as just dealing with the issue, and feels that the courts do not value the thought of the male victim. This distorted viewpoint allows the perpetrators to continue their unwanted behaviors and propagates the societal prejudice against the male …show more content…
However, NC judges have a wide latitude in the sentencing and review of reports of harassment. The narrowed area of review are incidents involving domestic concerns. NC General Statutes in chapter 50B cover this area and provide direct governance and guidelines to be followed. Law enforcement officials receive direct training and advanced training for disposition and handling of domestic involved cases. The statutes are clear when an arrest and referrals are to be made. Preliminary investigations are the pivotal catalyst in determining actions of police. Upon finding cause for an arrest, the offender is placed into the judicial system for immediate action by the courts and outside participating agencies. The majority of harassment offenses are reported by females and immediate actions are taken. When a male victim reports harassment, there tends to be a lax approach from law enforcement and resources for the male victim are strikingly less available. Eckore stated, “the laws and guidelines are often written as if harassment were a crime perpetuated solely by men toward women” (2012). Law enforcement tends to process the male victim through the system with less vigilance and urgency. Stalking was considered a nuisance crime for many years and the best advice was to ignore the behavior. However, in recent years this has changed due to research of incidents.