Mechanism for counteracting the antisocial phenomenon of obsessive stalking

Introduction. The article deals with the antisocial aspect of the negative phenomenon of obsessive stalking. The author substantiates the necessity of timely preventive measures against this form of mental violence in order to avoid its transformation into a criminally punishable threat of murder or causing serious harm to health, and their hypothetical development into violent murders. Methods. The article is based on the materials of the author’s own sociological research conducted in the form of a questionnaire survey of 683 law enforcers in 8 administrative centres of the federal districts of the Russian Federation: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Pyatigorsk, Vladivostok (60 justices of the peace and district judges of courts of general jurisdiction, 92 prosecutors, 192 investigators of internal affairs bodies, 263 inquirers of internal affairs bodies, 27 divisional inspectors, 20 juvenile inspectors, 29 operational duty officers were interviewed), as well as the content analysis of mass media, including Internet news sources. Results. The author has developed a mechanism of preventive measures, consisting in considering obsessive stalking as antisocial behavior and adopting changes aimed at empowering divisional inspectors to carry out individual preventive work so that they could give a legal warning against continuing antisocial behavior.