Over the last two decades, stalking has received increasingly widespread attention. The establishment of anti-stalking legislation has helped to spur interest in stalking research and the forensic assessment of stalkers. Popular representations of stalking have made the public more aware of this phenomenon. It has long been the responsibility of mental health professionals to provide assessments of and treatment for stalkers and their victims, and as criminal cases involving defendants charged with stalking become more common, it is now also the responsibility of legal professionals to be knowledgeable about psychiatric aspects of stalking behavior and the risks that so often must be minimized through legal action or a combination of clinical and legal interventions. This volume provides a thorough overview of current scientific and clinical research about stalking, along with practical guidance and original commentary from the Psychiatry and the Law Committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, an organization recognized for its contributions to mental health literature. In addition to covering the most widely discussed scientific topics related to stalking, including classification of stalking behaviors, risk assessment and risk management of stalkers, and the stalking experience from the perspective of victims, this book examines celebrity and special target stalking, cyberstalking, forensic assessment, and juvenile and adolescent stalking. Stalking: Psychiatric Perspectives and Practical Approaches provides a novel and comprehensive contribution to a field in need of an up-to-date text, written from the vantage point of forensic psychiatrists who encounter stalkers and their victims in their distinct roles as treatment providers and forensic evaluators. The prism of stalking and the risks involved continue to fascinate and frighten. In pursuit of rounded coverage, the authors have incorporated findings from numerous studies and analyzed these findings from several theoretical perspectives. Every chapter has been written from the vantage point of a committee of nationally recognized forensic psychiatrists who offer their perspectives on this fascinating but complex topic. Mental health professionals, members of the judiciary, law enforcement professionals, media personnel, and the public will no doubt find this text to be an informative and useful resource.

This two-volume set provides an authoritative overview of rape and other forms of sexual violence, containing the latest information about victims and perpetrators; events, laws, and trends related to sexual violence; and attitudes toward it. This encyclopedia will help readers to develop a deeper understanding of rape and other forms of sexual violence in the United States and around the world. Content illuminates all aspects of this serious issue, including the forms of trauma experienced by survivors/victims; different types of rape, from incest to acquaintance rape to prison rape; specific cases, events, and controversies; laws, policies, movements, and organizations pertaining to the issue; and legal, political, and cultural contributors to rape and other forms of sexual violence. Encyclopedia of Rape and Sexual Violence follows an A–Z format, but instead of comprising brief overview entries, it features twenty chapters, each of which is a long-form entry that covers key perspectives, laws, court cases, and statistics on survivors/victims and perpetrators. Leading scholars' and activists' perspectives on the subject add depth to the information provided; the set also includes a selection of essential primary documents.

Writing love letters, making phone calls, and sending gifts, these are all seemingly innocuous behaviours. This changes when the love expressed in the letters remains unrequited, when the phone calls amount to hundreds a night, or when the gifts consist of bullets and funeral wreaths. When attempts to contact another person happen with a certain nature and frequency, the behaviour can be qualified as stalking and it can have a detrimental impact on the life of the person subjected to the unwanted attention. In this book an account is given of the nature and prevalence of the problem of stalking in the Netherlands, of the effectiveness and the (dis)advantages of resorting to the police, and of the pros and cons of two alternative anti-stalking measures: hiring the services of a private investigation and protection agency and obtaining a civil restraining order.

Each year an estimated 3.4 million men and women become victims of stalking. While a man in a black coat following a girl in a dark alley is the media’s stereotypical portrayal of stalking, there is actually a wide range of behavior that can be defined as such. Stalking—characterized by harassment, repeated calling, sending inappropriate letters or gifts, unsuitable use of social media, confrontation, and other unwanted behaviors—is a worldwide problem that is on the rise, especially the incidence and prevalence of cyberstalking. This book presents a collection of prominent articles published in the peer-reviewed journal Violence and Victims, written by experts on stalking from a variety of social science disciplines. Authors present research related to stalking victims and perpetrators, cyberstalking, how to identify stalking, and stalking in a variety of settings with a focus on college campuses. College students, many of whom are relatively new to intimate relationships, are especially prone to becoming stalked or perpetrating stalking. Several articles in this collection address stalking within the college population, including an empirical study of stalking victimization in men and women and a discussion of coping strategies at a Finnish university. Authors examine varying perceptions and attitudes toward stalking on campus, and discuss how to draw the line between courtship behavior and stalking. Personality attributes of stalkers include, according to one study, less social competence and a greater tendency to display borderline behaviors. Studies also address the relationship between stalking and gender, the stalking experiences of battered women, and the growing incidence of cyberstalking. This book will provide a solid research foundation toward understanding and controlling stalking behaviors, which can potentially lead to more serious abuse. Key Features: Disseminates the most acclaimed research articles on stalking from the peer-reviewed journal Victims and Violence Authored by well-known stalking experts from varied social science disciplines Explores stalking in numerous settings including college campuses Presents research on perpetrators and victims of stalking Examines cyberstalking

The social construction of crime is often out of proportion to the threat posed. The media and advocacy groups shine a spotlight on some crimes and ignore others. Street crime is highlighted as putting everyone at risk of victimization, while the greater social harms from corporate malfeasance receive far less attention. Social arrangements dictate what is defined as crime and the punishments for those who engage in the proscribed behavior. Interest groups promote their agendas by appealing to public fears. Justifications often have no basis in fact, but the public accepts the exaggerations and blames the targeted offenders. The net-widening effect of more laws and more punishment catches those least able to defend themselves. This innovative alternative to traditional textbooks provides insightful observations of myths and trends in criminal justice. Fourteen chapters challenge misconceptions about specific crimes or aspects of the criminal justice system. Kappeler and Potter dissect popular images of crimes and criminals in a cogent, compelling, and engaging manner. They trace the social construction of each issue and identify the misleading statistics and fears that form the basis of myths—and the collateral damage of basing policies on mythical beliefs. The authors encourage skepticism about commonly accepted beliefs, offer readers a fresh perspective, and urge them to analyze important issues from novel vantage points.

ìHere is the latest word in scholarship on stalkers and those they terrify... a mandatory reading for anyone wanting to stay ahead of the curve on the flourishing clinical and legal literature about this worldwide and vexing problem.î - John Monahan, PhD Doherty Professor of Law, University of Virginia At what point does following a person, or trying to intimidate him or her into accepting one's advances, become "stalking"? How is stalking related to gender? Who is the stalker? What are the long-term effects of stalking? These are among the many issues explored in this groundbreaking empirical investigation. This book based on two special issues of the journal Violence & Victims presents in-depth findings on both victim and perpetrator, and includes a new understanding of the categories of stalking behavior: simple obsessional, love obsessional, and erotomanic.