Should stalking victims do "risk assessments"?

I worked in an NGO dealing with gender-based violence in Malaysia. Advising victims to do "risk assessments" was common practice. This made sense, but I was curious to see what the research said on this.

In short yes, stalking victims should do risk assessments (phew!).

What is a risk assessment?

Essentially "risk assessments" involve examining the details of a stalking case (e.g. is the stalker a former partner, does the stalker have a weapon, etc.) to determine how dangerous the situation is. This in turn helps victims (and authorities) decide what precautions to take.

Why are they helpful?

Basically, risk assessments work because there are factors (that have been shown to be) associated with increased danger.

For example, if a stalker is monitoring the victim's daily activities, physical violence and homicide are more likely (according to this article, citing other articles). And so the victim (and authorities) may want to be on high alert.

This article has a useful summary of factors that increase the risk of violence in stalking cases.