Temporal Patterns of Far-Right Extremist Homicide in the U.S.

• In Event: Socio-Political Change and Far-Right Extremist Violence in North America

Abstract

Far-right extremism is not new in the United States but instead has remained an enduring problem for more than a century. Often understood as a sometimes violent response to evolving social and political landscapes, less is known about how the effects of socio-political shifts and other media sensationalized events are reflected in episodes of violent far-right extremism. The purpose of this study is to observe change and stability in far-right extremist homicide offender, victim, and incident attributes across several time intervals. We ask, how has deadly far-right extremism been shaped by national politics and mass casualty terrorist events in the United States between 1990 and 2017? Data for this study come from the United States Extremist Crime Database (ECDB), a relational database and repository for open-source information on far-right homicide. We rely on quantitative analyses of ECDB data and descriptive case narratives to comparatively examine the nature of fatal attacks perpetrated by far-right extremists across several different socio-political contexts. Our findings address broader concerns about far-right extremism and the current social and political environment in the United States.

Authors

• Jeff Gruenewald, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

• William Parkin, Seattle University