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...

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.
Both studies lead to the conclusion that the human behavioral response to desire, rejection, low self-esteem, insecurity, and other individual personal feelings and emotions if not dealt with in a way that resolves them can lead to a manifestation that is socially harmful. Much work needs to be done to understand the stalker personality profile. Nor is there data to demonstrate whether or not stalking laws, which perhaps are ineffective deterrence when dealing with the range of human emotions, have had any impact on reducing instances of stalking. Stalking is an area of science and law that must come together in further research and study to further illuminate the condition, the treatment, and to understand if the risk of punishment for a behavior is effective in circumventing that behavior.

Reference List

McEwen, T., Mullen, P., and Purcell, R., 2007. Identifying Risk Factors in Stalking: A

Review of Current Research, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, pp. 1-9.

Palarea, R., Zona, M., Lane, J., and Langhinrichsen-Rohlings,…