Terrorism and Targeted Violence Prevention: A County-Level Case Study

• In Event: National, Local, and Situational Impacts on Terrorism

Abstract

Over the past decade, the locus of control for preventing acts of terrorism and targeted violence in the United States has slowly shifted to state-, county-, and city-level actors. In some cases, this work has been supported by the federal government, but much of it has been undertaken without the benefit of a major federal grant. The purpose of this DHS-funded study was to evaluate the efforts of a single county—in this case, Wood County, Ohio—that leveraged existing funding streams to grow its capacity to identify, assess, and manage cases in which a juvenile was assessed to be at risk for committing an act of terrorism or targeted violence. This evaluation focused on four critical areas: the network practitioners engaged in this work; the referral process; the assessment process; and the resources available to these county-level stakeholders. This presentation will share the results of this evaluation, with the specific goal of highlighting (1) how the county undertook this work in the absence of a major grant and (2) what lessons might be learned for state-, county-, and city-level policy-makers and practitioners seeking to build their own terrorism and targeted violence prevention capability.

Authors

• Megan K. McBride, CNA's Institute for Public Research

• Lauren K. Hagy, CNA's Institute for Public Research

• Kaia Haney, CNA's Institute for Public Research

• Cait Kanewske, CNA's Institute for Public Research

• Amanda Bond, CNA's Institute for Public Research