title: Key questions to consider in stalking cases.
abstract: Stalkers can inflict severe injury upon and have been known to kill their victims. Based on the detailed responses of 1,565 stalking victims, a set of key questions was produced with the aim of increasing the opportunities of police officers to identify potentially dangerous stalkers. Despite marked methodological differences and the inclusion of a large number of variables, regression analyses for significant correlates for physical assault per se and for severe violence largely reflected the results of earlier works. For severe violence (n=136), the most important correlate was a high level of victim fear, suggesting that victims are adept at assessing their own risk of stalker violence. The set of 11 questions performed well on preliminary tests and is presented here.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK. l.sheridan@hw.ac.uk
authors.forename: Lorraine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sheridan
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D057237:Criminals / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D055807:Stalking; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014754:Violence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology