American Jihadi Terrorism: A Comparison of Homicides and Unsuccessful Plots

Gruenewald, Jeff; Klein, Brent R.; Freilich, Joshua D.; Chermak, Steven M.

doi:10.1080/09546553.2016.1253563

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Prior studies have also revealed that FR terrorists using firearms and other conventional weapons are more successful than terrorists using bombs (Klein et al, 2017). In the United States, radical Islamic terrorists who commit fatal attacks are more likely to rely on firearms than other types of weapons, although plots by radical Islamic terrorists foiled by police tend to involve relatively more bombs (Gruenewald, Klein, Freilich, & Chermak, 2016). Similarly, Mandala and Freilich (2017) found that successful terrorist assassinations were more likely when assassins employed guns as opposed to more complex and less accessible weapons like explosives.…”

Section: Theoretical Orientation and Prior Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

A Situated Comparison of Suicide and Non-Suicide Terrorist Plots and Homicides in the United States, 1990-2014

Gruenewald

Klein

Parkin

et al. 2018

Crime & Delinquency

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This study compares suicide and non-suicide incidents in the United States by analyzing data from the U.S. Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) on terrorist incidents committed by extreme far-right (FR) and radical Islamic terrorists between 1990 and 2014. Drawing from Situational Crime Prevention (SCP), we investigate whether suicide incidents are more likely than non-suicide incidents to be directed at secure targets and to utilize firearms. Findings reveal that suicide terrorism is significantly more likely to be committed against secure targets and similarly likely to involve the use of firearms in comparison with non-suicide terrorism. In addition, suicide terrorism is more likely to be committed by lone actors, radical Islamic terrorists, and result in fatalities. Implications for terrorism prevention are discussed.

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Section: Theoretical Orientation and Prior Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

A Situated Comparison of Suicide and Non-Suicide Terrorist Plots and Homicides in the United States, 1990-2014

Gruenewald

Klein

Parkin

et al. 2018

Crime & Delinquency

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“…Finally, while it is known that law enforcement plays a large role in the foiling of terrorist plots (Dahl, 2011; Gruenewald et al, 2016), one limitation to the current study is the unknown extent to which terrorists’ specific planning and preparatory behaviors preceding foiled plots are shaped by FBI undercover agents and informants. Retrospectively ascertaining how official intervention situationally shaped opportunities for terrorism, such as by presenting opportunities for terrorists to choose a particular weapon or target, remains challenging based on existing data sources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Choice of weapon, however, appears to be influenced by a terrorist’s ideological background. Research by Gruenewald et al (2016), for instance, revealed that jihadi terrorists in the United States used or planned to use bombs in their attack, as their goal is usually to create a terrorist spectacular by inflicting mass casualties. In contrast, environmental terrorists wish to avoid inflicting human casualties.…”

Section: Terrorism As Situated Criminal Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Directly following the coordinated terrorist attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon (Arlington, Virginia), and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001, preventing the next “9/11” became the top priority of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI; Mueller, 2003). A number of deadly terrorist attacks have occurred since in the United States, but the FBI along with state and local law enforcement agencies have also successfully thwarted numerous planned acts of terrorism (Crenshaw & LaFree, 2017; Dahl, 2011; Gruenewald, Klein, Freilich, & Chermak, 2016; Klein, Gruenewald, & Smith, 2017). Scholars have investigated the relative frequency of planning and preparatory activities that preclude terrorist events across both American (Smith, Damphousse, & Roberts, 2006) and European settings (Schuurman, Bakker, Gill, & Bouhana, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Situated Contexts of American Terrorism: A Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations

Gruenewald

Drawve²,

Smith

2019

Criminal Justice and Behavior

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This study examines how combinations of situational factors are associated with patterns of terrorist success and failure. We apply Sacco and Kennedy’s criminal event perspective and Clarke and Newman’s situational crime prevention approach to the study of terrorist opportunity structures. Using data from the American Terrorism Study (ATS), we employ conjunctive analysis to investigate how opportunities for terrorist attacks and prevention are situationally positioned. We ask, “What combinations of terrorists’ ideological and situational factors are associated with terrorist outcomes in the United States?” While our findings generally show that the simplest forms of terrorism, including combinations of lone actors using unsophisticated weapons against nonhuman targets after little preparation, are associated with successful outcomes, there is heterogeneity in situated opportunities for preparing for and committing terrorism across terrorism movements. Our findings add insights into terrorism prevention strategies and help build a foundation for future comparative research on terrorism outcomes.

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“…Scholars have studied foiled plots, but not their statistical dimensions. That literature has focused on the history of specific groups (Nesser 2018), the features of the plot preparation process (Cothren et al 2008;Gruenewald, Klein, Drawve, et al 2019;Kaplan 2012) and why some plots fail and others succeed (Gruenewald, Klein, Freilich, et al 2019;Jackson and Frelinger 2009;McCleskey et al 2007;Strom et al 2010). Several researchers have noted that attacks can misrepresent terrorist activity (Crenshaw and LaFree 2017: 69;Sageman 2009: 5), but the implications of this observation have not been examined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plots, Attacks, and the Measurement of Terrorism

Hegghammer¹,

Ketchley²

2020

Preprint

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Event datasets are central to the study of terrorism. Political scientists use thefrequency of launched attacks as the dependent variable and test different covariates to identify the contexts and processes that produce this violence. Butattacks are an imperfect measure of terrorist activity because of “plot attrition”— the tendency for attack plans to derail due to police intervention or otherfactors. Building on advances in plot data collection, this research note conceptualizes and empirically examines this potential measurement problem. Aswe show, the correlation between attacks and plots varies across different unitsof analysis and functional forms. Common research designs predicting the incidenceof terrorism produce statistically significantly different results dependingon how terrorist activity is operationalized. The findings have methodologicalimplications for the study of terrorism and conceptual relevance for themeasurement of other political phenomena.

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American Jihadi Terrorism: A Comparison of Homicides and Unsuccessful Plots

Cited by 14 publications

References 2 publications

A Situated Comparison of Suicide and Non-Suicide Terrorist Plots and Homicides in the United States, 1990-2014

A Situated Comparison of Suicide and Non-Suicide Terrorist Plots and Homicides in the United States, 1990-2014

The Situated Contexts of American Terrorism: A Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations

Plots, Attacks, and the Measurement of Terrorism

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