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Stalking Actions, Prior Offender-Victim Relationships and Issuing of Restraining Orders in a Finnish Sample of Stalkers

NCJ Number
202687
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2003 Pages: 189-206
Author(s)
Helina Hakkanen; Camilla Hagelstam; Pekka Santtila
Date Published
September 2003
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article examines the stalking actions that were employed by Finnish violators both preceding and following the issuing of the restraining order (RO).
Abstract
In Finland, a restraining order (RO) statute was instituted in 1999, requiring a reasonable likelihood that the restrainee may cause mental or physical harm to the victim, constrain the victim’s freedom, or cause harm to the victim in other ways. In this study, various stalking styles were clustered using multidimensional scaling (MDS). It then analyzed different stalking styles against prior restrainee-victim relationship and violation of the restraining order. Several hypothesizes were presented regarding RO's and included: (1) violent stalking actions would be less frequent following the issuance of the RO; (2) a distinction would be found between actions that had an instrumental purpose and those which might be regarded as emotional acting-out and expressive aggression; and (3) the nature of the actions would be significantly associated with both the nature of the prior relationship and the possible escalation of violence. Court files were collected of cases where RO's had been issued from March to December of 1999 from the district courts. The results indicate that stalking actions can be thematically interpreted. In addition, substantial overlap was suggested between the action themes and the nature of the prior relationship between the victim and the restrainee. Further violence is decreased by the issuing of the restraining orders, thereby playing a significant role in victim protection and intervention. Study shortcomings are presented and discussed. References