An Examination of Successful and Unsuccessful Terrorist Attacks in the United States Perpetrated by Far-right Extremists and al-Qaeda and Associated Movements

• In Event: Applications of Routine Activity Theory to Cybercrime and Terrorism

Abstract

Research on how the nature of failed and foiled terrorist plots compare to successful attacks has seen increased interest by criminologists and others in recent years. However, empirical research has yet to examine the similarities and differences in successful and unsuccessful terrorist attacks in the United States perpetrated by terrorists affiliated with far-right extremism and al-Qaeda and Associated Movements (AQAM). As a result, we know little about how offender, incident, investigative, and target-level characteristics compare across these types of terrorist violence and ideological affiliations. The aim of this study is to comparatively examine attributes of successful and unsuccessful terrorist attacks occurring in the U.S. between far-right and AQAM terrorism. Data from the U.S. Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) are used to comparatively analyze offender attributes (e.g. sex, race, age, criminal history, lone wolf), incident characteristics (number of offenders, region of attack, weapon type, place of attack), investigative strategies (e.g. human intelligence, law enforcement partnerships) and target characteristics (e.g. target type, target vulnerability) across successful and unsuccessful attacks. Findings should advance our knowledge of the factors associated with terrorism incident success, as well as inform law enforcement counterterrorism strategies.

Authors

• Brent Klein, Michigan State University

• Jeff Gruenewald, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis

• Steven M. Chermak, Michigan State University