University of Greenwich, London, UK.
University of Roehampton, London, UK.
J Interpers Violence. 2022 Aug;37(15-16):NP14672-NP14694. doi: 10.1177/08862605211015216. Epub 2021 May 8.
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. However, there has been minimal work done that assesses the severity of individual stalking behaviors. 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 were used to assist in developing a scale that displays the ranking order of each stalking behavior. These analyses were also used to examine whether the stalking behavioral items created a single continuum of severity of stalking. Results indicated that 16 stalking behavioral items of the 28 items present in the National Stalking Helpline, best represented the severity of stalking. Unwanted communication behaviors such as text messages and phone calls were located at the lower end of the severity scale, whereas criminal damage and death threats were mapped on the higher end of the continuum. The findings also revealed that the 16 items categorized under 6 factors. The findings of the present study provide many implications for stalking agency professionals and criminal justice responses.
跟踪是一个重大的社会问题。由于对跟踪行为的定义不一致，导致出现了不同的测量犯罪的方法。然而，很少有工作评估个别跟踪行为的严重程度。本研究的目的是评估从全国跟踪热线数据库中随机抽取的 924 例样本中跟踪行为的严重程度。项目反应理论分析被用来帮助开发一个能够显示每个跟踪行为的排序的量表。这些分析也被用来检查创建的跟踪行为项目是否形成了一个单一的连续体的严重程度。结果表明，28 个全国跟踪热线项目中的 16 个跟踪行为项目最能代表跟踪的严重程度。不需要的沟通行为，如短信和电话，位于严重程度量表的低端，而犯罪破坏和死亡威胁则位于连续体的高端。研究结果还表明，这 16 个项目可分为 6 个因素。本研究的结果为跟踪机构专业人员和刑事司法应对措施提供了许多启示。
