Abstract
Stalking is a crime that commands considerable attention in the popular media, providing endless fodder for tabloid editors and the celebrity-starved masses. Thankfully the public fascination with stalking has been matched in recent years by burgeoning professional attention to the problem within psychiatric and legal domains. Since 1998, at least 10 scholarly texts have been published which consider the contexts in which stalking emerges, its nature and impacts, and the challenges of managing the perpetrators and victims. This book adds to the growing literature, assembling an impressive cast of key European, North American and Australian authors whose interests span psychiatric, law enforcement and criminological perspectives. The editors’ aspiration to provide an ‘international showcase of that which is currently known about stalking’ is largely achieved, with valuable contributions from Reid Meloy (stalking and physical violence), Joseph McCann (stalking in children and adolescents) and Michele Pathé and Paul Mullen (victims of stalking). There are fresh insights into multidisciplinary approaches to the risk management of stalkers in the chapter by Canadian researchers Kropp et al. although some may challenge their assertion that the primary goal of treatment for mentally disordered stalkers is to prevent them ‘from committing violence rather than to alleviate their symptoms’. In keeping with the times and advances in technology, there is an informative chapter on cyberstalking, curiously with much of the focus on the nature of this problem within ‘youth’ populations (the authors perhaps hinting at the relative lack of internet sophistication among the over-35s).
Despite the book's title, there is a relative absence of new material in regard to effective prevention strategies for stalking or clinical treatment for the psychological and psychiatric difficulties that often underlie the behaviour. Those who are familiar with the literature may find material repetitive – the chapter by security specialist Gavin de Becker for example is a reprint from The gift of fear (Bloomsbury, 1997). There is also little attempt to provide a critical commentary of the current state of knowledge and the challenges facing medical and legal practitioners involved in management. Nonetheless, the strength of the book lies in its overview of the major themes relevant to stalking. While clinicians and researchers may be deterred, Stalking and psycho-sexual obsession is likely to be a useful resource to those seeking a thorough introduction to the topic.