Stalking Is a Behavior Which

Stalking is a behavior which has the potential for escalating to a level of violence and harm. This behavior has been addressed at the criminal justice level by creating laws intended to protect society and to punish stalkers. Russell E. Palarea, Michael A. Zona, John C. Lane, and Jennifer Langinrichsen-Rohlings collaborated in a study of stalking, which was published as a journal article in the journal of Behavioral Science and Law (1999). Palarea, et al., report that it was the stalking of a young actress, Rebecca Schaefer, in 1989, which cast the national spotlight on stalking, which served as the impetus for laws to address stalking (p. 270). While celebrities are often the target of stalkers, because of their high public profiles, non-celebrity individuals are victims of this behavioral disorder as well (p. 270). Today, all 50 states have adopted some form of stalking laws (p. 270). Los Angeles, home to a large community of celebrities, has created a special Threat Management Unit, operating to specifically address the problem of stalking in LA (p. 270).

The creation of laws and other offices along the legal chain to deal with the crime of stalking brought about a legal definition of stalking (p. 270). Under Section 646.9 of the California Penal Code, stalking is defined as the "willful, malicious, and repeated following or harassing another person, which includes a credible threat with the intent to place that person in reasonable fear for his or her safety or the safety of his or her immediate family (p. 270). California's law served as the basis for other states to define and to create laws addressing stalking; also, the federal Model Penal Code (p. 270).

Zona, et al., cites other studies, which when taken as a whole, reveal a picture of the stalker-victim relationship that should serve to inform the public, and raise the level of awareness as a problem warranting psychiatric treatment of stalkers. In their 1999 study, Zona, et al., report that 47% of 74 cases examined through the LA Threat Management Unit revealed what might be categorized as obsession stalking (p. 271). Obsessional stalking involves a prior victim-suspect relationship (p. 271). They also found that the obsessional stalker had a greater propensity for violence towards the victim or the victim's property than did other stalking categories (p. 271). Zona, et al., cite the 1995 study conducted by Meloy and Gothard, which identified that 55% of their study victim-suspect relationships comprised 15% former spouses, and 40% former intimates (p. 271). Zona, et al., however found that the Meloy and Gothard study fell short in that it did not analyze the variable by the victim-suspect relationship when they concluded that 25% of the obsessional stalkers assaulted their victims (p. 271). This lack of analytical range resulted in some ambiguity in understanding whether or not the violence was related to a prior relationship, or the desire to have a relationship (the Schaefer case, which resulted in the murder of Schaefer, was obsessional desire to have a relationship).

While the Zona, et al., study closely examines the victim-suspect relationships, another study conducted by Troy McEwen, Paul E. Mullen, and Rosemary Purcell (2006) focuses more succinctly on the behavioral disorder as regards stalkers' propensity for violence and physical harm to their victims (p. 2). McEwen, et al., found that the longer the behavior of stalking continued, the greater the potential for physical harm to the victim (p. 2). McEwen, et al., identified the risk factors of the stalker with the greatest propensity for violence as: a prior intimate relationship between the stalker and the victim; the presence of explicit threats; a history of substance abuse; and the absence of psychosis in the perpetrator (p. 2).

Both studies go on in their respective directions, providing a plethora of information that when taken in combination, help to profile stalker propensity for violence. The Zona, et al., study goes into more depth as to the adverse impact stalking has on the victim, while the McEwen study provides a better and in depth analysis of stalking as a psychiatric disorder. The conclusions drawn from both studies indicate that, first, much more research is necessary to understand the behavioral disorder that constitutes stalking.

The reader conclusion might be that stalking is unpredictable when it is arising out of a prior relationship, and that prior relationship stalking tends to hold the greater threat to the victim. While both studies provide information that helps to identity the symptomatic behavioral disorder of the stalker, neither study provides in depth information on the treatment approaches of individuals. This is the area that is sorely lacking in the literature, and which would benefit society as a whole in understanding what can be can, aside from the legal avenues, to reverse this equally harmful, potential dangerous, and actually self-destructive behavior.