Student No: 4214897 School of Medicine University of Nottingham Assessed Coursework Cover Sheet Coursework Title: Academic Thesis Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Forensic Psychology Name: Amy Mckechnie, BSc, MSc Submitted for Examination: May 2018 1 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank Dr Simon Duff who has helped me throughout this process by offering his guidance, feedback and expertise. Thank you to each of my clinical supervisors over the past two years. I owe a huge thanks to the establishments who granted me permission to conduct my research. I would especially like to thank all of the clients who agreed to contribute to numerous chapters of this thesis as this would not have been possible to conduct without their participation.
My sincere gratitude to Dr Jayne Taylor, Dr Caroline Logan and Suzanne Cook for enabling me to complete my final months of my Doctorate whilst maintaining a job I love. The extra time, understanding and support you have given me will not be forgotten. Many thanks to James and Nathanael for all your efforts, it is much appreciated. To my friends; throughout these three years I have come to understand just how important each one of you rapscallions are to me in your own special way.
Thank you for just being you. I know I’ve been off the radar during this last push but I’m back now, let the parties commence, the mayhem continue and let’s keep exploring this big old world together! Grace and George, you guys have kept me sane throughout this with your words of wisdom, encouragement and silliness. I’ve missed our ‘lols’. Finally, I would like to thank my parents most of all for their constant support throughout, what feels like, the longest journey of my life.
You have always believed in me and encouraged me to do the best I can. I am extremely lucky to 2 have parents who value education the way you do and your infinite generosity throughout my educational years. I’m all done now…finally! I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without your guidance and advice Mum. You’ve taught me the importance of being true to myself.
I am eternally grateful. I now truly understand the meaning of no man is an island 3 An exploration of adolescent stalking: from understanding perpetration to its harmful effects upon its victims. 4 Contents List of Tables. 8 List of Figures.
9 List of Appendices. 11 Chapter One: Overview. 18 Prevalence of stalking within England and Wales .2 Structure of Thesis. 31 Chapter Two: Investigating Male Adolescents' Obsessive Relational Intrusive Behaviour, Motives and Perceptions.
36 The importance of the relationship between the stalker and victim. 36 Offending history and mental health as potential risk factors. 40 Obsessive relational intrusion. 41 ORI amongst young people.
83 Findings in relation to the study. 83 Limitations and future direction. 106 Chapter Three: An MSU assessment phase of a male adolescent who engages in stalking behaviours .109 5 Client introduction & referral details. 109 Childhood and family background of the client.
112 Forensic history of the client. 116 Self-harming behaviours. 118 Education background of the client. 118 Medical problems of the client.
119 Mental/ emotional/ developmental problems. 119 Relevant background information .2 Assessment, Analysis & Formulation .124 Presentation after being sectioned under the MHA. 124 Assessment of risk .141 Practice-theory links. 141 Reflection on practice .146 Chapter Four: The Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY): A critical review .2 Overview of the SAVRY .3 How the SAVRY compares to other risk guidance for young people.
SPJ approaches to risk assessment .6 Application within a forensic setting.7 Strengths and weakness of the assessment .164 Chapter Five: Do victims of stalking suffer? An explorative systematic review .169 Classification of stalking victims. 171 Various areas impacted by stalking. 177 Rationale for research. 178 Aims and objectives of the review .181 Inclusion/exclusion criteria.
181 Sources of literature. 191 Characteristics of included studies. 193 Assessment of methodology quality. 195 Descriptive data synthesis results.217 Strengths and limitations of results .5 Conclusions and recommendations .226 Chapter Six: General Discussion .2 Summary of findings .3 Theoretical and practical implications.
Participant Consent Form. RC Capacity Declaration Form. Invitation Letter for Community Sample. Invitation Letter for Forensic Sample.
PIS for Community Sample. PIS for Forensic Sample. Demographic Sheet for Community Sample. Hypothetical Stalking Vignette.
Visual representation of means for each dependent variable. Summary of SAVRY risk items. Diagrammatic risk formulation. Letter of consent from RC.
Letter of consent Mr A. Data Extraction Form.300 7 List of Tables Chapter 2 2. Participants who endorsed the ‘Harassment Tactics’ subthemes……. Participants who endorsed the ‘Mental Health’ subthemes.
Participants who endorsed the ‘Dynamic Factors’ subthemes. Participants who endorsed the ‘Drivers’ subtheme. Mr A’s Forensic History. Mr A’s HIT scores.
Mr A’s Barratt Impulsivity scores. Mr A’s Endorsement of Violence scores. Summary of the risk and protective factors of the SAVRY. PECO screening tool.
Countries where participants were recruited from for the included studies……………………………………………………………………………………………. Study designs included in the review. Prevalence rates of stalking victimisation in the included studies. Results of included studies .200 8 List of Figures Chapter 2 2.
Diagrammatic overview of the Mixed Methods process. ‘Stalking’ visual representation of mean data distribution. Thematic Analysis Outcome. The ‘Harassment tactics’ superordinate theme and subthemes.
The ‘Mental health’ superordinate theme and subthemes. The ‘Dynamic factors’ superordinate theme and subthemes. The ‘Drivers’ subordinate theme and subthemes. BioPsychoSocial Model of risk and protective factors of adolescent stalking………………………………………………………………………………………………97 2.
Cognitive Behavioural Model containing internal and external processes underlying an adolescent ‘rejected stalker’ type………………………………. Systematic review sorting process. CCAT scoring outcomes .196 9 List of Appendices Chapter 2 2. Participant Consent Form.
RC Capacity Declaration Form. Invitation Letter for Community Sample. Invitation Letter for Forensic Sample. PIS for Community Sample.
PIS for Forensic Sample. Demographic Sheet for Community Sample. Hypothetical Stalking Vignette. Visual representation of means for each dependent variable.
Summary of SAVRY risk items. Diagrammatic risk formulation. Letter of consent from RC. Letter of consent Mr A.
Data Extraction Form. 300 10 Thesis Abstract This thesis broadly explores multiple aspects of adolescent stalking, including perpetration and victimisation. A range of explorative methods are used to achieve this, including an empirical research paper, a single case study, a critique of a forensic risk assessment (SAVRY) used in the case study, and a systematic review. Following an introduction in Chapter One, Chapter Two describes a mixed methods research study investigating male adolescents’ perceptions of low-level stalking and the behaviours and possible motives of perpetrators engaging in obsessive relational intrusive behaviour.
Comparisons are made between adolescents residing in a forensic medium secure unit and young people attending a community college. Results are discussed, limitations are highlighted, and future recommendations are made. Chapter Three discusses the forensic assessment process of a male adolescent who has a history of engaging in intrusive behaviours directed towards his ex-partner. This single case study examines the young person’s risk of future violent recidivism, which is assessed through utilising a widely-used youth forensic risk assessment tool.
A theory-driven formulation attempts to explain his intrusive behaviours from a psychological perspective before finally providing future treatment recommendations. Chapter Four critically appraises an adolescent forensic risk assessment tool, the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY; Borum, Bartel & Forth, 2002), the assessment measure used in Chapter Three. Chapter Five reviews the stalking literature, specifically examining how stalking impacts upon victims’ lives. Fourteen full references were systematically identified that met the review’s inclusion criteria.
Studies indicate that victims of both direct and indirect stalking suffer severe consequences in their lives as a result. Future longitudinal studies, controlling for confounding biases, are necessary for achieving a richer understanding of the 11 impact that stalking can have on victims. Finally, Chapter Six discusses the implications of this thesis and offers recommendations for future research. 12 Chapter One: Overview 13 1.1 Introduction Stalking Legislation Over the past 25 years, there has been an increase in scholarly attention investigating various aspects of stalking.
This began in 1990, when the first anti-stalking law was passed in California following a number of high profile cases of celebrities experiencing stalking victimisation and the consequent media attention (Spitzberg & Cupach, 2007). Following the first anti- stalking law, there has been much debate on what stalking is and what behaviours constitute this criminal act, and a lack of general consensus regarding these areas still remains. Despite this, the fact that several countries have implemented stalking legislation suggests that it is recognised as a significant societal problem, although legal definitions of what constitutes stalking differ between countries and even vary from state to state within America and Australia (Abrams & Robinson, 2002; Scott, Lloyd & Gavin, 2010). On the 25th November 2012, stalking, which previously had fallen within the umbrella term of ‘harassment’, was recognised as a specific behaviour by the British Legal System.
The ‘Protection of Freedom Act 2012’ created two new offences of stalking which acknowledged the type of conduct which constitutes stalking and the fear and/or distress that victims experience. The Act allows stalking to be an either way offence – triable in a magistrates’ court or a Crown Court - regardless of whether the evidence is deemed insufficient to prove “fear of violence”, which previously would have led to a summary charge. More recently, legislative changes have allowed courts to impose stricter penalties for convicted perpetrators of stalking: the ‘Policing and Crime Act 2017’ increased the maximum custodial sentence available to the courts from five 14 to ten years. These changes may give victims more confidence that they will be protected by the UK legal system.
This progression from the England and Wales ‘Protection from Harassment Act 1997’ is important because it authorises prosecutors to have further options when deliberating suitable charges. More importantly, it acknowledges the differences between the two harmful behaviours of stalking and harassment. The Home Office guidelines differentiate the two acts: stalking as obsessive fixation or pursuit of another individual which causes serious distress or fear; and harassment as a behaviour which upsets or offends another (Home Office, 2012). These are steps within the British legal system, albeit small, towards reducing the trivialisation of this criminal act.
However, the trivialisation of stalking is likely to continue at other levels that precede the effects of the legal system. Society’s attitudes towards stalking tend to minimise and trivialise the harmful behaviours and their impact by excusing the actions of perpetrators whilst apportioning blame to the victims. Such attitudes are likely to deter individuals from reporting their experiences of stalking. Furthermore, stalking victims can downplay their own experiences due to their relationship with the perpetrator - for example, victims may label the pervasive and problematic behaviours of their ex-partner as the process of a break-up or indeed, for a variety of reasons, fail to recognise them at all.
It is reasonable to assume that such trivialisation can prevent many cases of stalking from coming into contact with the Criminal Justice System. That being said, the progression in the British Law is certainly a positive step in helping victims to understand what constitutes stalking. The explicit criminalisation of stalking will also increase victims’ faith in the justice system, and give 15 them greater confidence that their disclosures of victimisation will be taken seriously. This is important, as the criminal justice system addressing stalking and recognising victims’ distress, and victims’ confidence in the legal system, are mutually dependent.