The dangerous nature of intimate relationship stalking: Threats, violence,and associated risk factors

Although previous studies of forensic and law enforcement stalking populati ons (Harmon, Rosner, & Owens, 1995; Meloy & Gothard, 1995; Zona, Sharma, & Lane, 1993) agree that the degree of intimacy of the victim-suspect relatio nship is an important factor in stalking cases, they have not conducted in- depth analyses of this variable. This study compared 223 intimate (n = 135) and non-intimate (n = 88) stalking cases managed by the Los Angeles Police Department's Threat Management Unit. A path analysis revealed a significan t relationship between the stalkers' intimate versus non-intimate status an d violence committed toward persons and property. This relationship was pos itively influenced by the suspect's level of proximity to the victim and th reats toward the victim and property, but not influenced by suspect's crimi nal, psychiatric, and domestic violence histories. Overall, intimate relati onship stalkers used more dangerous stalking behaviors than non-intimate re lationship stalkers. Risk factors for assessing dangerousness of stalkers a re discussed. Copyright (C) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.