Stalking may be described as an extraordinary crime, one that is easy to commit but difficult to define and prosecute. This is because many activities of stalkers are ostensibly routine and harmless. Section one of this thesis however demonstrates that although English and Welsh law does not define criminal stalking, the general public hold shared ideas on what does and does not constitute stalking behaviour. It is concluded that anti-stalking legislation that does not tightly prescribe stalking acts may best capture public concerns about this highly prevalent form of harassment. Further, researchers in different countries are investigating the same phenomenon in that previous studies have detailed similar patterns of stalker behaviour. Section two reports two victim surveys that provide a preliminary picture of stalking experiences in the United Kingdom. These indicate that both stalking and the victims’ reaction to it are changeable rather than constant, that any person can become a victim of stalking, and that stalkings themselves are a diverse group. Section three deals with the classification of stalkers. First, one specific classificatory factor, the nature of the stalker-victim prior relationship, is focused upon. Evidence that ex-partner stalkers are the relational group most likely to be violent toward their victims is provided, although stranger stalkers are most likely to be convicted for stalking activities. Next, a vignette study demonstrates how social psychological theory can account for the misattribution of ex-partner stalkers’ behaviour. Finally, a taxonomy of stalkers that was specifically created for use by law enforcement agencies is presented. This classification illustrates how different interventions can have varying success according to the type of stalking involved. More generally, this thesis confirms some previous work for the first time with British samples, and provides practical insight into the course and nature of stalking as it occurs in the United Kingdom.

The issue of workplace bullying has received considerable attention in the UK in recent years. Despite a handful of surveys undertaken on the issue, no attempt has been made systematically to investigate its prevalence and nature, antecedents and outcomes, across occupations and sectors. This thesis attempts to fill this gap and presents an epidemiological investigation of workplace bullying in Great Britain. Following identification of a large-scale, random sample across a variety of sectors and occupations, objectives that emerged from a review of the literature are examined by means of a quantitative survey. Prevalence-rates of self-reported bullying are established, the nature of the behaviours revealed, and particular risk-groups identified. By means of a factor analysis of an inventory of negative behaviour identified with bullying in Britain, four underlying constructs are revealed: work-related bullying; personal bullying; managerial bullying; and intimidation. An investigation of possible predictors of bullying and negative behaviours reveals that bullying was particularly associated with a particular style of leadership utilising punishment in a non-contingent manner, i.e. unrelated to target behaviour, and where social relationships, particularly with supervisors, were strained. Following analysis, bullying and negative behaviour are found to be associated with negative effects on health and well-being as well as negative organisational outcomes, e.g. absenteeism, reduced productivity and, in particular, increased intention to leave. On average, targets of recent bullying report worst outcomes, followed by previous targets, witnesses of bullying and those who had neither been bullied nor had witnessed bullying. In discussing the results, a distinction is made between bullying processes and negative behaviour. It is argued that, when the local context and demographic factors, e.g. gender, age, race and organisational level, are taken into consideration, overall findings often masked important underlying differences. This highlights the varying meaning of the bullying experience. The complexity and multi-causality of the phenomenon is highlighted, with implications for stress-theory, suggesting that several factors may need to be considered simultaneously, as risk-factors may be the result of an interaction between two or more factors.

Bullying can be defined as “repeated aggression, verbal, psychological or physical conducted by an individual or group against others” (Department of Education, 1993. p.6). Once regarded as a childhood issue, the prolonged suffering of victims into adulthood, the quality of their relationships and their ability to operate effectively in the workplace is an area of concern. These children mature into adults with self-esteem issues, anxiety about life in general and feelings of inadequacy. Being the victim of bullying can persist in adulthood, as the coping skills necessary to deal with the problem have not been suitably developed. For the victims it may lead to a life of depression and low self-esteem causing problems in adult relations and accomplishments. The victims may never develop appropriate self-confidence, preventing them from engaging in adult relationships and pursuing careers. It may in extreme cases even lead to them committing suicide. The bully themselves appear to suffer in a similar manner. The skills for living a well-adjusted life are underdeveloped or simply do not exist at all. They too appear to suffer from relationship problems, a pattern of aggressive behaviour that makes familial relationships difficult; low self-esteem and high anxiety also appear to be characteristic of the adult bullies.

Research into school bullying has focused in the main on children aged over the age of 8 years. This thesis attempts to redress the balance and describes a large empirical study investigating the nature of school bullying in a sample of 104 schoolchildren from two Reception Classes and two Year One classes in four London primary schools. The children were aged between 4 and 6 years. The roles taken in bullying were assessed using peer, self and teacher nominations. It was found that children did not nominate others for taking all of the Participant Roles identified by Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Björkqvist, Österman and Kaukianien (1996), but were able to nominate peers for the roles of Bully, Victim and Defender. When the stability of these roles was examined over intervals of 2 months and 3.5 – 4 months it was found that, although both Bully and Defender status were relatively stable, Victim status was not. Although many children were exposed to victimisation transiently, only for a very few was it a stable experience. Some of the factors found to be related to bullying in older samples were found to support this. Young Victims were not physically weaker than others, they did not exhibit poorer theory of mind skills, neither were they socially rejected by peers or insecurely attached. These factors have been suggested as being potential risk factors for repeated victimisation or consequences of stable victimisation. Young Bullies were found to be physically strong, socially rejected and more likely to be insecurely attached. These findings are similar to those found in older samples of Bullies. However, young Bullies did not exhibit superior theory of mind as has been found in older groups. The understanding of bullying held by younger children and their teachers was also examined. The children held different definitions of bullying than their teachers, and were more likely to consider provoked aggression or a straight fight as bullying than their teachers. Each of these findings are discussed within a framework of the developing roles in bullying.

This thesis demonstrates the day-to-day experiences of victimisation and opinions about crime as they were encountered by a group of pupils in a rural school at one particular point in time. A number of key themes are addressed, the first being the notion of the adolescent as a victim of crime. This thesis considers what ‘crime’ means to the pupils at this school and documents their views of crime in the wider community. The next area addressed is the victimisation of adolescents by fellow adolescents; here the focus is on incidents of bullying that occurred on and off the school premises. Third, whilst men as victims is an under-researched area, boys as victims are even less adequately studied, and the question of masculine identities are incorporated. Furthermore, the roles the female students played are investigated as with their involvement in both acts of violence and bullying. The fourth area is the limits of moral conduct and how this particular age group makes decisions about the unwritten moral codes and boundaries affecting the display of violence. This in turn invites the question of how teenagers made sense of larger moral problems and problems of living inside a school interpreted as a form of institution with a distinctive ‘underlife’. These themes are addressed within an analysis of the larger social organisation of childhood and adolescence. Criminologists have long recognised the importance of peer group influence in the development of offending behaviour, but the research took into account the rural context of that setting, the final analytical lens through which it is focussed. This thesis demonstrates that the intricate patterns of violence and bullying are a process whereby status and power reinforce an established hierarchy of pupil’s informal relations. The importance of the peer group emerged as the key to understanding interactions between the pupils at the school researched. The power of the peer group would have to be taken into consideration in any strategies devised to curtail bullying.