THREAT MANAGEMENT:MORAL AND ACTUAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE CONTROL OF CELEBRITY STALKING

• Pages: 9-29
• Date: 28 April 2005
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1521-6136(04)06002-6
• Published date: 28 April 2005
• Author: Kerry O. Ferris

THREAT MANAGEMENT: MORAL AND

ACTUAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE

CONTROL OF CELEBRITY STALKING

Kerry O. Ferris

ABSTRACT

Celebrity stalking has increased exponentially in the past 20 years, and has

generated a growth industry in “threat management” and personal security

for media figures. States have instituted anti-stalking legislation, and law

enforcement agencies have adapted their procedures accordingly. Current

debates pit official third parties such as police and courts against private se-

curity providers who argue that public handling of these cases is dangerous

and counterproductive. This paper uses a wide range of qualitative data to

argue that the threat management industry engagesin competitive moral en-

trepreneurship as different parties struggle to define and control a seemingly

intractable problem.

When Jonathan Norman was arrested in 1997 outside the Malibu home of director

Steven Spielberg, he was carrying handcuffs, duct tape, and a knife. He was high

on methamphetamines, claimed he was Spielberg’s adopted son, and believedthat

the director wanted to be raped by him. Luckily, the director and his family were

not home at the time. Norman was pursued by private security guards, arrested by

police, and convicted of felony stalking. Because of California’sthree-strikes rule

and Norman’s two prior felony convictions, he was sentenced to 25 years to life

Ethnographies of Law and Social Control

Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Volume6, 9–29

Copyright © 2005 by Elsevier Ltd.

All rights of reproduction in any form reserved

ISSN: 1521-6136/doi:10.1016/S1521-6136(04)06002-6

9

10 KERRY O. FERRIS

in prison. Spielberg called the man “a danger to society” and said, “if he’s out on

the street, I will live in fear” (Errico, 1998).

This is just one of the many cases of celebrity stalking that have made news

recently. Though extreme, it is not unique. Many high-profile public figures (in-

cluding Madonna, Halle Berry, Elton John and Courteney Cox Arquette) have

faced threats such as those endured by the Spielberg family. Some have been in-

jured (like Theresa Saldana and Monica Seles) or killed (like John Lennon and

Rebecca Shaeffer) by obsessed fans. And while celebrity stalking is a specialized,

recently identified, and relativelyinfrequent crime problem, it is also a well-known,

well-publicized, and oft-sensationalized one.

According to an unpublished National Institute of Justice report (Dietz, 1989

as quoted in Lane, 1992), there have been more attacks on public figures in the

past 25 years than in the 175 years preceding. With the recent rise in celebrity

stalking comes a related rise in legislative, security and law enforcement activities

meant to control it. Once celebrity stalking was identified as a social problem and

a crime, the opportunity arose for public law enforcement agencies and private

security contractors to struggle over whose response strategies would be accepted

as authoritative.Tensions between public and private “threat management” projects

present classic issues of moral entrepreneurship and rule enforcement (Becker,

1963). This paper examines the current state of and tensions between these “threat

management” industries. At stake: legitimacy, authority, and money, as celebrity

clients devote extraordinary resources toward efforts to stop stalkers.

CELEBRITY STALKING: AN OVERVIEW

It’s not ‘if’ a celebrity has a stalker – it’s ‘how many,

– Park Dietz (Toufexis,1999, p. 4).

Celebrity stalking is a distinctive subtype of the larger social problem of stalking

(which, since the early 1990s, has also been a crime). Celebrity stalking involves

the unwanted pursuit of a public figure by a fan or detractor, and can take a variety

of forms. Celebrity stalkers fantasize relationships with public figures and then

seek contact with them by sending letters and gifts, attempting to call or visit,

and using a variety of other approaches. Opinions vary as to whether celebrity

stalkers are mentally ill – Zona et al. (1993) argue that celebrity stalkers suffer

from delusional disorders, while others (Ferris, 2001; Johnson, 2002) contend that

celebrity stalking is an extreme variantof ordinary fanship and courtship behaviors.

How is celebrity stalking different from other types of stalking? It can be

argued that there is little difference between celebrity stalking and other forms