The assassination of the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs

On September 10, 2003, Anna Lindh, the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs, was assassinated. The offender, a 24-year-old man, was a socially isolated, culturally and familially dislocated, yet academically quite competent young man who became enthralled with the habitual criminality of some of his relatives and their associates, and then psychiatrically decompensated in his early twenties. He had a history of serious violence before the crime, including the gross assault with a knife of his alcoholic and abusive father when he was 17, stalking, and extortion. At least a year prior to the assassination, he confided to a friend his desire to attack someone famous in front of many people. A definitive motive for the crime was not possible to establish. This was an act of intended, yet opportunistic violence toward a national political figure. The dynamics of the case are placed in the context of other attacks on Western European and U.S. politicians.     

Latent Profile Approach to Duration of Stalking

Abstract: Stalking behavior and victim–stalker relationship are often the principal known factors in a stalking case. Thus, they are of great importance when trying to identify factors contributing to stalking duration. The present study aims to identify distinct subgroups of stalking victims based on measures of behavioral stalking dimensions. These victim subgroups, stalking dimensions, and victim–stalker relationship are examined in relation to stalking duration. Using a sample of 137 university students, latent profile analysis (LPA) revealed five distinct victim subgroups based on stalker behavior dimensions: surveillance, low‐profile, social lurker, wide scope, and baseline stalkers. The subgroups were significantly related to stalking duration and explained a considerable amount of the variance along with the stalking dimensions and victim–stalker relationship. Connections to stalking literature and utility of person‐orientated methods in stalking research are discussed.     

Framing and perceptions of stalking: the influence of conduct severity and the perpetrator–target relationship

Research has demonstrated that the way in which questions are presented (i.e. framed) has the capacity to influence responses to subsequent questions. In the context of stalking, perception research has often been framed in terms of whether or not particular behaviours constitute stalking. The current research investigates whether the framing of the opening question (question frame), conduct severity and the perpetrator–target relationship influence perceptions of stalking. Two studies employed experimental 3×3 independent factorial designs: one to examine question frame and conduct severity, the other to examine question frame and the perpetrator–target relationship. Participants in both studies (total N=449) were presented with vignettes and asked to answer six questions relating to the behaviour described. Question frame was found to impact on the classification of behaviour, with a greater proportion of participants indicating that the behaviour represented harassment or stalking rather than an illegal act. Consistent with previous research, conduct severity and the perpetrator–target relationship influenced perceptions of stalking. However, there was no evidence to suggest that the framing of the opening question influenced these perceptions. The implications of these findings for previous perception research are discussed.     

IS THE ANTISOCIAL CHILD FATHER OF THE ABUSIVE MAN? A 40‐YEAR PROSPECTIVE LONGITUDINAL STUDY ON THE DEVELOPMENTAL ANTECEDENTS OF INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE*

This prospective longitudinal study examined whether early childhood risk factors contributed to explaining and predicting intimate partner violence (IPV) in midadulthood. Participants included 202 men from the Cambridge longitudinal study who were in an intimate relationship in their mid‐40s. Neuropsychological deficits and the presence of a criminogenic family environment were measured between ages 8 and 10. Antisocial behavior was measured between ages 8 and 18. IPV was measured at age 48 using a self‐report instrument completed by the participants' female partners. Perpetration and victimization rates were relatively high; violence was mostly mutual, and men were more likely to be victims than perpetrators. Findings indicate that a criminogenic environment increases the risk of IPV by fostering the development of antisocial behavior and neuropsychological deficits. A link also exists between a high level of antisocial behavior during adolescence and the risk of IPV later in life. The results suggest the presence of both continuity and discontinuity of antisocial behavior as childhood risk factors that increase the likelihood of future involvement in IPV, but the role of these risk factors is modest.     

人口重压下我国发展模式的选择--兼论"三农"问题及其对策

在沉重的人口压力下,我国必须选择“以人为本”的可持续发展道路,强化国人尤其是农村的人力资源能力建设。为此,必须对当前实施赶超型、跨越式发展等问题进行反思,并提出把农村人力资源开发作为解决“三农”问题的突破口的对策建议。     

Factors associated with escalation and problematic approaches toward public figures

Detailed comparison of factors associated with abnormal approach to the prominent and with escalation from communication to approach has not hitherto been undertaken. This partially reflects the failure of individual studies to adopt compatible terminologies. This study involves a careful dissection of six public figure studies, three involving U.S. politicians, two Hollywood celebrities, and one the British Royal Family. Common findings were unearthed across six headings. Approachers were significantly more likely to exhibit serious mental illness, engage in multiple means of communication, involve multiple contacts/targets, and to incorporate into their communication requests for help. They were significantly less likely to use threatening or antagonistic language in their communications, except in those cases involving security breaches. These results emphasize the importance of integrating mental health findings and preventive measures into risk management. Approach should not be regarded as a single behavioral category and has multiple motivations. Future studies should adopt standard terminology, preferably taken from the general stalking research.     

ROMANTIC PARTNERS' INFLUENCE ON MEN'S LIKELIHOOD OF ARREST IN EARLY ADULTHOOD*

Female romantic partners' influence on official crime occurrence for men across a 12‐year period in early adulthood was examined within a comprehensive dynamic prediction model, including both social learning and social control predictors. We hypothesized that relationship stability, rather than attachment to partner, would be associated with reduced likelihood of crime, whereas women's antisocial behavior would be a risk factor, along with deviant peer association. Models were tested on a sample of at‐risk men [the Oregon Youth Study (OYS)] using zero‐inflated Poisson (ZIP) modeling predicting 1) arrest persistence (class and count) and 2) arrest onset class. The findings indicated that women's antisocial behavior was predictive of both onset and persistence of arrests for men and that deviant peer association was predictive of persistence. Relationship stability was protective against persistence.     

Online Pursuit in the Twilight Zone: Cyberstalking Perpetration by College Students

The author provides one of the first empirical examinations of cyberstalking perpetration. The extent and nature of cyberstalking are investigated using a sample of college students from a large university in the Midwest. The results indicate that cyberstalking was perpetrated by 4.9% of research participants. In addition, the findings suggest that persons with low self-control are significantly more likely than their peers to perpetrate cyberstalking. Those who participated in sexting were also more likely to engage in cyberstalking. However, these variable effects differed by sex. In particular, women with low self-control were at higher risk of perpetrating cyberstalking, while low self-control did not affect offending risk for men. These results speak to the potentially gendered nature of cyberstalking, while at the same time finding that the prevalence of offending was essentially the same for men and women.     

Parental bonding and adult attachment styles in different types of stalker

Attachment theory is one of the earliest and most vigorously promoted explanations of the psychological processes that underlie stalking behavior. Insecure attachment has been proposed as impairing the management of relationships, thus increasing the propensity to stalk. The current study explored the parental bonding and adult attachment styles of 122 stalkers referred to a specialist forensic clinic. Stalkers were grouped according to two common classification methods: relationship and motivation. Compared to general community samples, stalkers were more likely to remember their parents as emotionally neglectful and have insecure adult attachment styles, with the degree of divergence varying according to stalker type and mode of classification. In offering support for the theoretical proposition that stalking evolves from pathological attachment, these findings highlight the need to consider attachment in the assessment and management of stalkers. Also emphasized is the importance of taking classification methods into account when interpreting and evaluating stalking research.