Online Places and Radicalization: Using Crime-Involved Places (CS4) to Understand the Radicalization Process

• In Event: Communities and Place: Micro Places, Terrorism, and Property Managers

Abstract

While still a subject of debate, radicalization is generally understood as the process through which an individual adopts an extremist ideology and its associated views. Most research on radicalization seeks to understand why terrorist violence occurs. In contrast, this study seeks to understand how radicalization occurs using crime-involved places (CS4). CS4 offers a framework for understanding how a network of crime-involved places — crime sites, convergence settings, comfort spaces, and corrupting spots —facilitate criminal events. Here we apply CS4 to online places, using a case study to improve our understanding of the online ecosystem relevant to radicalization.

Authors

• Mackenzie Hart, Simon Fraser University

• Ivana Zdjelar, Simon Fraser University

• Garth James Davies, Simon Fraser University

• Shannon J. Linning, Simon Fraser University