How Perceptions of Terrorism, Hate Crimes, and other Forms of Mass Violence Influence Public Support for Policy Responses to Violence

• In Event: Criminological Advances in the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence in the United States

Abstract

Terrorism, hate crimes, and other forms of mass violence are on the rise in the US, garnering attention from the public, policy makers, and researchers alike. Our prior work examines the conceptual relationships among terrorism, hate crimes, and other forms of mass violence and how people view and label violent incidents, both of which lay the foundation for the present study. Here we address two questions: 1) why do some violent events lead to support for punitive policies while others do not? and 2) how do these processes vary across subgroups of the public? Using a survey-embedded experiment, we collect data with an approximately representative sample of US adults. Participants are randomly assigned to one of seven scenarios that vary on the type of attack (e.g., terrorism only; terrorism + hate crime) and then answer questions about what policies are appropriate to reduce that form of violence. Results shed light on how the labels attached to violent attacks influence support for various policy responses, even when the incidents themselves do not differ in other ways.

Authors

• Adam K. Ghazi-Tehrani, University of Alabama

• Erin M. Kearns, University of Nebraska at Omaha