Analysis Shows Lone Actors More Likely to Commit Terrorist Acts Than US Extremist Groups

 

by Josh McAuliffe

Extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the Proud Boys have long been an ugly undercurrent of American culture. But despite these groups’ hateful rhetoric, their ranks have largely refrained from committing violent acts over the past three decades, according to research conducted by Andrew Vitek, associate teaching professor of political science and director of the Department of Political Science’s counterterrorism option at Penn State.

Using the University of Maryland’s Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) dataset, Vitek analyzed a pool of 1,064 individuals found guilty of ideologically motivated crimes between 1990 and 2017.

He found that those who were involved in formal organizations were significantly less likely to commit a terrorist act because the groups have a vested interest in keeping their membership out of legal trouble. He published the study findings in the journal Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict.

The study draws a distinction between acts of extreme violence, or what Vitek calls indiscriminate violence, and other forms of violence that may not bring the same amount of attention from law enforcement.

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Source: Phys.org