Previous Life Experiences and Risk Factors of Violent Right-Wing Extremists

• In Event: Radicalization and Violent Extremism

Abstract

Our purpose in this project is to examine the previous life experiences and risk factors of those who have used violence in a sample of current and former fringe right wing extremists. This is an important question, because while having a white supremacist ideology is not itself a crime, the rhetoric in the movement is often quite aggressive, even calling directly for racially motivated violence. Some individuals are considered to have committed planned ideologically motivated violence or terrorism while others have committed spontaneous ideologically motivated violence. We explore the previous life experiences through the use of Qualitative Comparative Analysis in a sample of 33 as well as through excerpts of qualitative life history interviews.

Authors

• Susan Fahey, Stockton University

• Pete Simi, Chapman University