When Words are a Crime

• In Event: The Power of Threats: Language, Violent Extremist Networks, and Political Violence

Abstract

Traditional criminological approaches tend to focus on overt behavioral dimensions of crime paying less attention to the role of words. Criminal threats represent a relatively unique crime type that has been underexplored and represent instances when words alone may constitute a criminal offense. At the same time, the study of political radicalization has become a greater point of focus among criminologists. Within the radicalization field, the role of words as an indicator of threat has received substantial focus. To help bridge these divergent intellectual paths, we focus on the case of threats directed toward US public officials from 2013 to the present. As part of this project, court documents for more than 700 federal cases were content coded. The dataset includes cases where threats served as the basis for the charges filed and other threat cases where additional statutory violations became the basis for the charges. In short, the variation in charges provides a natural point of comparison among cases that threats directed toward public officials. As part of the analysis, we found substantial variation among the federal districts in how cases involving threats to public officials were investigated, prosecuted, and the ultimate outcomes.

Authors

• Pete Simi, Chapman University

• Chris Bader, Chapman University

• Seamus Hughes, University of Nebraska Omaha / NCITE