Comparing Responses to Hate-Motivated Mass Violence in Two Democracies

• In Event: Governing Crime and Deviance: State Power, Morality, and Comparative Legal Frameworks

Abstract

The work is derived from a year-long Fulbright project in 2024-25 that examines the causes and consequences of extremist mass violence using firearms. This paper will present a comparative analysis of four case studies of extremist violence in two different countries. This work excavates the ideologies, motivations, and methods of hate-driven violence and examines the social and policy responses to them. The cases included here include Utøya, Norway (2011), Charleston (2015), Tree of Life, Pittsburg (2017), and Oslo Pride Festival (2022). Comparisons are drawn between offenders in each of the four cases, as well as responses in two different countries that experienced similar types of mass gun violence using firearms.

Author

• Brian Wolf, University of Idaho