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Stalking

Stalking and Serious Violence

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Stalking, sometimes known as “obsessional following,” describes behavior characterized by the repeated unwanted intrusion of one person into the life of another, by either direct contact or communication. A characteristic of the behavior is that it occasions fear or apprehension in the victim. Dramatic incidents of stalker violence brought stalking to public prominence and were the impetus to the introduction of antistalking legislation that, in most jurisdictions, is framed in terms of a behavior that places a person in fear of physical harm., However, most stalkers are not violent; rates for violent behavior range between 30 and 40 percent in most reported series.2 Violence infrequently results in serious physical injury, with most victims being grabbed, punched, slapped, or fondled by the stalker. Serious violence is rare. It has been suggested that the homicide rate in stalking is probably less than two percent,4–6 but an analysis of prevalence rates of...

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Female Stalkers and Their Victims

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Female criminality is rarely studied and little understood. Although the crime of stalking is receiving a growing amount of research attention, the 15 to 20 percent of stalkers who are women are usually subsumed by the larger proportion of male stalkers in all research designs. Gender differences among stalkers have been studied only once, in an Australian community forensic mental health clinic. Purcell et al. found that male stalkers in that study out numbered females by a ratio of four to one. Similarities were more frequent than differences in most demographic, clinical, and forensic variables. The females were significantly less likely to have a history of criminal offenses, violent criminal offenses, or substance abuse diagnoses. They were significantly less likely than men to stalk a stranger, but more likely to pursue a prior professional contact, motivated by “a desire to establish a close and loving intimacy with the victim” (Ref. 7, p 2058).

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Stalking, Homicide, and Catathymic Process: A Case Study

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Abstract

Despite the proliferation of research on various aspects of stalking, there has been relatively little study of stalkers who commit homicide. In this article, a man who stalked and killed a casual acquaintance is reported. He developed an idea to kill her that, at first, seemed ego-alien and unreal but eventually became fixed and was accompanied by a mounting inner pressure to act. The concept of catathymic process a change in thinking whereby the offender comes to believe that he can resolve his inner conflict by committing an act of extreme violence against someone to whom he feels emotionally bonded is of particular help in understanding this case, as well as similar cases of stalking that culminate in homicide....

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Intimate Partner Stalking: Fear, Psychological Distress and Health Impacts

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Partner stalking victims have higher levels of fear and distress, including anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms. Several studies indicate that partner stalking independently contributes to victim fear and distress.

In general, stalking victimization is associated with a range of fears and significant psychological distress. [1-11] from a study of stalking victims, of which 68 percent were stalked by an ex-partner, 78 percent had mean scale scores for somatic symptoms, anxiety, social dysfunction and severe depression that were similar to symptoms reported by psychiatric outpatient populations. [12]

When partner stalking occurs within the context of a current or former relationship that was violent, victim fear and distress is significantly increased. [13-15]

Partner stalking victims with histories of partner violence experienced over three times as many anxiety symptoms as stalking victims with no history of partner violence with the stalker. [16]

From a sample of 187 women stalked by an ex-partner, women who experienced levels...

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Intimate Partner Stalking: Comparing the Danger Posed by Partner Stalkers Versus Non-Partner Stalkers

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Overview of Differences between Partner and Non-Partner Stalkers

When examining dangerousness and characteristics of partner stalking, it is important to compare differences between partnerIntimate Partner Stalking: Comparing the Danger Posed by Partner Stalkers Versus Non-Partner Stalkers stalkers and non-partner stalkers such as acquaintances 9 strangers.

In one study, researchers summarize the difference between intimate partner stalkers and non-intimate partner stalkers:

[Intimate stalkers compared with non-intimate stalkers] are by far the most malignant. They have violent criminal records, abuse stimulants and/or alcohol, but are rarely psychotic. They frequently approach their targets and escalate in frequency and and intensity of pursuit. They insult, interfere, threaten and are violent. Over one-half of these subjects will physically assault their object of pursuit...Virtually all of them reoffend, and they do so more quickly than the other two groups [acquaintance and stranger stalkers]. Almost one out of three will threaten with or use a weapon. [1]

Threat of Violence....

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