Terrorism Studies Commons^™

The Us War In Afghanistan And The War Powers Act: A Natural Experiment, Burrell Fletcher V

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

How Can the War Powers Act of 1972 be Reformed to Increase the Chances of Winning Wars?

This paper examines the effects of the War Powers Act of 1973’s Authorisation for Use of Military Force (AUMF) system on the conduct of war, especially regarding the ongoing War on Terror. The War on Terror, began in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks when President Bush invaded Afghanistan. Congress, using the War Powers Act, passed the 2001 AUMF in the weeks after the attacks. The 2001 AUMF has been used in twenty-two countries to justify anti-terror operations thus far (Savell, …

Exploring Change And Stability In Counterterrorism Policy, Prosecution, And Sentencing Of Terrorists In America Over The Last Three Decades In The United States, Georgianna Grace Bettis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the effects of legislation changes on how terrorists are adjudicated in American federal courts. The overarching question is: how have prosecutorial and sentencing outcomes changed in response to homeland security policy shifts over the last few decades? The project examines the impact of policy on changes to terrorists’ sentencing in three time periods, marked by three major events: The 1993 World Trade Center Attack, the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing, and the attack on the Twin Towers (9/11/2001). In addition to terrorists’ demographic and background attributes (i.e., gender, age, terrorism category), the …

Characteristics Of Bias Homicides Against The Lgbtqia+ Community, Jeff Gruenewald, Katie Ratcliff

Research Projects

Background: Five people were killed and at least 17 injured on November 19, 2022 just before midnight at Club Q, an LGBTQIA+ club in Colorado Springs, CO. The shooting ended after a 22-year-old gunman wielding an AR-15 style rifle was disarmed by club patrons. Federal, state, and local law enforcement officials continue to investigate the mass shooting. The alleged shooter has been charged with murder and hate crimes.

Law Enforcement Policy And Personnel Responses To Terrorism: Do Prior Attacks Predict Current Preparedness?, Bryce Kirk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrorism has been on the mind of the American people and politicians alike since the 9/11 attacks over two decades ago. In the years since, there has been a massive shift in law enforcement priorities from community-oriented policing (COP) to homeland security-oriented policing. This was especially evident in the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, which was established to aid law enforcement entities with terrorism preparedness. While prior literature has addressed a variety of factors that have contributed to terrorism preparedness, very little research has …

Seditious Conspiracy Charges In The American Terrorism Study (Ats), Katie Ratcliff

Research Projects

In January 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Seditious Conspiracy charges against members of the anti-government extremist group Oath Keepers in connection to the January 6th (2021) siege of the U.S. Capitol Building. Several have entered not guilty pleas and a trial is expected in July 2022.

To provide context, this brief offers an overview of 11 Seditious Conspiracy cases included in the American Terrorism Study (ATS) since 1980. In total, these cases involve nine groups (a.k.a."cells" or "plots") and 78 defendants charged with Seditious Conspiracy (18 USC§ 2384), a relatively rare charge that comprises less than one half …

Gender And Criminal Justice Responses To Terrorism In The United States, Summer Jackson, Jeff Gruenewald, Katie Ratcliff

Research Projects

This brief summarizes findings from a recent study published in Crime & Delinquency titled "Gender and Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism in the United States" (available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287211047535 ). Using data from the American Terrorism Study (ATS), this study examine show gender varies across federal terrorism cases, how gender shapes federal terrorism case outcomes, and how combinations of relevant case attributes uniquely impact court outcomes for males and females.

Data include a sample of 2,147 defendants in terrorism-related cases across several types of legal measures: charge type, number of charges, whether or not the prosecutor references terrorism (e.g., relying on …

Extreme Far-Right Murder-Suicide Attacks In The U.S. And Germany: A Comparative Storyline Analysis, Hayden Lucas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite increasing empirical research on suicide terrorism since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, prior studies have focused primarily on radical Islamic terrorism in non-Western contexts. As a result, less is known about how murder-suicide attacks committed by other ideological movements unfold, particularly the extreme far-right in North America and Europe. Researchers have begun to theorize the social and psychological processes believed to play a role in the radicalization of suicide terrorists. However, the observable, situational processes shaping radicalized individuals when planning, preparing for, and executing suicide terrorism remain underexplored. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify intervention points by …

Victims Of Anti-Asian Bias Homicides In The United States, 1990-2019, Jeff Gruenewald, Katie Ratcliff

Research Projects

Background: Asians have increasingly becometargets of bias crime since China was publicly linkedto the COVID-19 virus outbreak. Acts of violencetargeting persons because of their Asian descent arenot new and have included brutal attacks resulting inthe death and elevated levels of fear across Asiancommunities.

A Peaceful End? Exploring The Correlates Of When Terrorist Groups Negotiate, William Berry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite significant advances in the terrorism literature since the September 11th attacks, there remains very little research into the processes by which terrorism might come to a peaceful end. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by investigating politicization, a process by which terrorist organizations negotiate with authorities and the two parties enter a peace agreement or otherwise agree to cease hostilities. The study explores the politicization outcome as predicted by important organizational and behavioral characteristics that prior literature identifies as affecting how terrorist groups end, including group size, organization lifespan, target type for terroristic activities, and the …

Less Than Half Of Racially-Motivated Homicides Result In Official Hate Crime Charges, Jeff Gruenewald, Katie Ratcliff

Research Projects

Background: On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was gunned down while jogging near his Georgia home. Portions of the physical altercation were caught on camera by one of the three men charged in the murder. The shooter reportedly uttered a racial epithet at Arbery as he lay in the street dying. Georgia is one of the four states without hate crime laws in the United states, but the FBI is currently investigating the shooting as a potential hate crime.

Failed And Foiled Islamic Terrorist Plots Targeting Military Personnel In The United States Since 9/11, Jeff Gruenewald

Research Projects

Background: On May 21, 2020, Navy police officers interrupted a terrorismrelated incident by neutralizing a 20-year old gunman who opened fire on military personnel at an entrance gate outside of the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas. One sailor was injured before the gunman was killed by Naval police officers.

Extreme Ideologies, Situational Factors, And Terrorists’ Target Selection, Evan Mudgett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study is to examine how ideology and situational factors shape terrorist target selection in the United States. While a growing number of studies have examined target selection by terrorists, the current study is the first to consider how combinations of factors present situated opportunities for terrorists to select particular types of targets as opposed to others. Guided by the situational crime prevention approach, this study relies on data from the American Terrorism Study (ATS) to measure attributes of incidents perpetrated by far-right and Islamic extremists and target selection. The outcomes of interest include government versus …

Longevity Of American Terrorists: Factors Affecting Sustainability, [United States], 1980-2015 (Icpsr 37175), Brent L. Smith

Research Projects

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator if further information is needed. This study examined the longevity of individual terrorists using data from the American Terrorism Study (ATS). Using these data, researchers examined the longevity of individual terrorists in relationship to five major …

The Longevity Of American Terrorists: Factors Affecting Sustainability, Brent L. Smith, Jeff Gruenewald, Katie Ratcliff, Paxton Roberts, Madeline Brice

Research Projects

This project was an outgrowth of two previous NIJ projects being conducted under NIJ’s Research and Evaluation on Domestic Radicalization to Violent Extremism program area. The first of these projects, which ended in 2015, focused upon testing one of the most prominent theoretical models of extremist radicalization -- identity and framing theory. One of the findings from examination of this theoretical model is consistent with the notion that “people want to be associated with a winner.” Recruitment and commitment, crucial to the lifespan of any terrorist movement, improve when the movement has been able to commit successful terrorist incidents (Freilich, …

Spatial Analysis Of U.S. Terrorism Incidents, Summer Jackson, Katie Ratcliff, Brent L. Smith

Research Projects

This research brief represents an overview of basic spatial patterns across a sample of terrorism incidents in the United States. While research concerning characteristics of incidents has received some study, the geospatial patterns of these incidents remains largely unexamined. Logically, different ideological categories of terrorism may lend themselves to different spatial patterns and preferences for target distance. In addition, the distance required to perpetrate an incident may affect the success rate of an attack. Terrorists who must travel further to engage in preparatory activity such as surveillance or transporting weapons may stand an increased chance of failure due to human …

Temporal Sequencing, Incident Sophistication, And Terrorist Outcomes, Brent L. Smith, Jeff Gruenewald, Brent R. Klein, Katie Ratcliff, Summer Jackson, Ian Brecht

Research Projects

There have been few efforts to examine how the planning process affects the outcome of a terrorist plot. This research brief provides some preliminary findings from an examination of the impact of the length of the planning process, the impact of multiple participants, and the volume of precursor activity on the success or failure of terrorist plots in the United States. While conventional wisdom holds true that a shorter planning process and fewer preparatory activities reduces perpetrators chances of getting caught therefore increases success rate, the new findings show that the more people involved in the planning process also increases …

Sequencing Terrorists' Precursor Behaviors: A Crime Specific Analysis, Brent L. Smith, Jeff Gruenewald, Kelly R. Damphousse, Paxton Roberts, Katie Ratcliff, Brent R. Klein, Ian Brecht

Research Projects

Recently completed research (Smith et al., 2016) suggests that radicalization toward violence is best viewed as a process – a journey that begins with a less-radical identity and moves toward a more radical identity and corresponding orientation. Efforts to test this theoretical assertion revealed that the process of identity construction involves a variety of behaviors that David Snow has referred to as “identify work” (Snow and Machalek, 1983; Snow and McAdam, 2000; Snow, 2004; Cross and Snow, 2011). One type of identity work –demonstration events – appeared to be particularly relevant to our ability to predict radicalization toward violence and …

Patterns Of Lone Actor Terrorism In The United States, Brent L. Smith, Paxton Roberts, Jeff Gruenewald, Brent R. Klein

Research Projects

This research explores the differences in geospatial and temporal patterns between lone actor and group-based terrorists in the United States. These include differences in demographics, precursor activities, proximity to the terrorism incidents, and longevity of conducting terrorist activities. Data for this analysis were derived from the American Terrorism Study (ATS). The ATS includes information on federal criminal cases resulting from FBI investigations for “terrorism or terrorism-related activities.” The analysis includes data from 264 prevented or completed terrorism incidents in the United States from 1980-present. These incidents involved 314 indictees charged with over 3,000 federal criminal counts. They were responsible for …

Update On Geospatial Patterns Of Antecedent Behavior Among Perpetrators In The American Terrorism Study (Ats), Brent L. Smith, Paxton Roberts, Kelly Damphousse

Research Projects

As part of the Terrorism and Extremist Violence in the United States (TEVUS) database integration effort, researchers at the Terrorism Research Center in Fulbright College at the University of Arkansas and the University of Oklahoma have been adding: 1) federal terrorism court cases and associated data and 2) incident and antecedent geospatial data from these court cases to the American Terrorism Study (ATS). The goal of the project is to examine geospatial patterns in perpetrator behavior and determine if the patterns identified in earlier studies have changed significantly. The ATS allows examination of a number of different units of analysis. …