Type:	Journal Article
Title:	Stalking in the context of domestic violence: findings on the criminal justice system
Other Titles:	Women & criminal justice
Authors:	Melton, Heather C
Keywords:	Stalking;Criminal justice responses;Theories of violence;Policing
Year:	2004
Publisher:	Haworth Press
Citation:	15 (3/4), 2004
Notes:	Discussion: Hypothesis to the first objective is discussed: The more serious the court response to the original domestic violence incident, then the less likely the abuser is to exhibit stalking behaviours based on deterrence theory. Two hypotheses of the second objective are also discussed: 1. Stalking is more likely to happen in cases where the victim is actively cooperating with the criminal justice system; and 2. Domestic violence victims’ stalking experiences are related to their likelihood of using the system. Results: Among the cases that ended in arrests, this found that the seriousness of criminal justice intervention in domestic violence had no significant impact on the incidence of subsequent stalking. The findings show that specific court outcomes in domestic violence cases (whether or not the victim cooperated with prosecution) did not impact whether or not a domestic violence victim experienced subsequent stalking. Women who experienced stalking as well as domestic violence were more likely to use the system in the future than women who just experienced domestic violence. The results also found that the majority of victims are not cooperating with the criminal justice system. The majority of the defendants are found guilty (often as the result of a plea bargain) at first time of interview, but they continue to not receive jail time. Specific kinds of court interventions do not appear to affect subsequent stalking. However, stalking was not found to escalate after intervention. Women were no more or less likely to experience stalking based on specific court outcomes. The incidence of stalking decreased after defendants undergo any part of the criminal justice process irrespective of the specific criminal justice intervention. Conclusions: Criminal justice interventions did not seem to have negative impacts on stalking and did not place the victim in any further harm. Although specific intervention did not seem to affect subsequent stalking, the general experience of intervention may. Criminal justice intervention is discussed as a suspected (but undetermined) factor that could have led to the decrease of physical violence and stalking over time.
URI:	https://anrows.intersearch.com.au/anrowsjspui/handle/1/12460
ISSN:	0897-4454
Appears in Collections:	Journal Articles

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