There has been a vigorous push for action internationally to address the needs of stalking victims in the UK in recent decades. The Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) estimated that there are over one million self-reported victims of stalking each year (Office of National Statistics, 2017). In contrast, a separate research study (Suzy Lamplugh Trust, 2019)  data revealed that police forces in England and Wales recorded only 8,364 cases of stalking in 2017.

Stalking is a significant social issue. The inconsistency as to what defines stalking has resulted in the creation of different methods to measure the crime. The aim of the present study was to assess the level of stalking behavior in terms of severity within a randomly selected sample of 924 cases from the database of the National Stalking Helpline. Item response theory analyses is a statistical process that provides for the design, analysis, and scoring of tests, questionnaires, and similar instruments measuring abilities, attitudes, or other variables.

Internet technologies can create hospitable environments for certain criminal behaviors. A new concern known as “cyberstalking,” which is the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to harass individuals, has recently emerged as a new and growing problem. This article explores the definition of stalking and cyberstalking in modern society. While some researchers view cyberstalking as an extension of conventional stalking, the argument is made within this article that cyberstalking should be regarded as an entirely new form of deviant behavior.

In 1990, California became the first state to implement anti-stalking legislation. Kentucky passed a similar bill in 1992. Statutes specifically prohibited following, harassment, or communication of threats to an individual. Since California’s initial implementation, all 50 states, American territories, and the federal government have enacted their own statutes to address and prohibit stalking (Brady & Nobles, 2017; Miller, 2001). Among a growing body of literature addressing stalking response, reporting, and characteristics, gaps exist when examining state response.

The criminal offense of stalking is qualitatively different than other offenses due to the repetitive and often multifaceted nature of the crime. Given that stalking constitutes several different kinds of behaviors (e.g., violence and threats), research on stalking recidivism becomes difficult. That is particularly true as recidivism can be defined in a number of ways. Considering the relative infancy of stalking as a legally proscribed crime, it is perhaps not surprising that research on stalking recidivism is sparse.

Recent estimates suggest that 16.2% of women and 5.2% of men living in the U.S. have been stalked at some point in their lives (Black et al., 2011). These prevalence rates, relative to the overall population size, indicate that approximately 20 million women and 6 million men have experienced some form of lifetime stalking victimization.

The purpose of this study was to investigate same-day alcohol or marijuana use and dating abuse (DA) perpetration in a sample of 60 noncollege-attending young adults. Participants reported daily data for 3 months. DA perpetration was more likely on days when participants also reported alcohol use (odds ratio [OR] = 2.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.38, 3.42]), but analyses of the temporal order indicated that alcohol use was not a proximal predictor of DA. Same day marijuana use was not associated with elevated risk of DA perpetration (OR = 1.40, 95% CI = [0.89, 2.21]).

Screening rates for intimate partner violence (IPV) among most health care providers are low; yet, positive interactions with providers can benefit people who experience IPV, with respect to increased safety, support, and self-efficacy. Missing is a broad assessment and comparison of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior across the range of providers who are likely to be involved in a response to IPV disclosure.

Childhood exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with a host of problems, including the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). PTSS include a wide range of unique symptomatology and as a result, clinical presentations of PTSS can vary in both distribution and overall number of symptoms. Work in child and adolescent samples has largely focused on factors predicting the total number of symptoms (i.e., symptom severity), with less work focused on both patterns of symptom number and distribution.