Stalking and Violence

Book excerpt: Stalking and Violence: New Patterns of Obsession and Trauma provides new perspectives on the prevalence, causes, and effects of stalking in intimate and non-intimate relations. Drawing on the results of a large random survey of restraining orders, this book found that stalking is highly prevalent in a variety of relationships and is a pattern of behaviors that is routinely regulated by the demographic and social characteristics of the victims and offenders. This book demonstrates that it is possible to develop reliable stalker profiles to help better detect and respond to the threat of stalking. These findings differ from previous studies that considered stalking limited to severely disturbed persons. Covering a wide range of topics from offender profiling, the dangers of stalking, cyberstalking, traumatic health effects, and the responses of the police and courts to stalking, this book will be relevant to a wide range of professionals and students in the fields of mental health, criminal justice, law, social work, medicine, nursing, public health, security/safety, and internet technology.