Utilizing Macro-Level Criminological Theory to Explain Domestic Islamic Extremist Violence: A county-level analysis

• In Event: Predicting Terrorist Behavior

Abstract

This paper utilizes macro-level criminological frameworks to examine domestic Islamist extremist violence through the lens of a county-level analysis. Drawing its data from the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), the study overcomes methodological challenges facing other studies of domestic terrorism. The current study makes several contributions to existing scholarly endeavors. First, by employing macro-level criminological theory, this study builds upon existing literature testing the applicability of criminological theory to the study of terrorism. Second, through its county-level analysis, this study supplements the disparate literature employing a county-level test of the structural determinants of terrorism. Finally, the study examines a recently developed outcome measure of what county the perpetrator(s) lived in at the time of the attack. With sturdy theoretical underpinnings and the innovative perspective of a county-level analysis, this study presents a significant extension of the literature.

Authors

• Micah-Sage Bolden, Michigan State University

• Steven M. Chermak, Michigan State University

• Joshua D. Freilich, John Jay College of Criminal Justice / CUNY Graduate Center

• Amy Adamczyk, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Jeff Gruenewald, University of Arkansas