American Jihadi Terrorism

A Comparison of Homicides and Unsuccessful Plots

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4859862
AutoresJeff Gruenewald (0000-0003-4002-697X, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, autor correspondente), Brent R Klein (0000-0002-4428-280X, Michigan State University), Joshua D Freilich (0000-0001-9538-8551, Department of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA), Steven M Chermak (0000-0001-5210-1143, Michigan State University), Steven Chermak (Michigan State University)
Ano2019
Volume31
Fascículo3
Páginas516-535
Data de publicação2019-05-04
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoTerrorism and Political Violence (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0954-6553 • E-ISSN: 1556-1836
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09546553.2016.1253563
OpenAlexW2557407616
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas9

While the number of American jihadi terrorist attacks remains relatively rare, terrorist plots thwarted by law enforcement have increased since September 11, 2001. Although these law enforcement blocks of would-be terrorists are considered counterterrorism triumphs by the FBI, human rights and civil liberty watch groups have conversely suggested that those who plan for attacks alongside government informants and undercover agents may be unique and essentially dissimilar from terrorists. Underlying this debate is the empirical question of how planned yet unsuccessful attacks and their plotters compare to successful terrorist homicides and their perpetrators. The current study addresses this question by comparatively examining jihadi terrorist homicides and unsuccessful plots occurring in part or wholly on U.S. soil between 1990 and 2014. Data for this study come from the U.S. Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), an open-source database with information on terrorism and extremist crimes. Based on these data, descriptive statistics are provided for several incident, offender, and target variables across three jihadi terrorist violence categories, including homicides, plots with specified targets, and plots with non-specific targets. We find several important differences across categories of terrorist violence, suggesting that unsuccessful plotters and their intended crimes vary from their more successful terrorist counterparts

Computer security · Criminology · Domestic terrorism · Law enforcement · Political science · Sociology · Terrorism · Computer Science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Law · Suicide and Self-Harm Studies · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence