Terrorism and Extremist Violence in U.S. Counties (TEVUS-C)

Investigators:

Victor Asal
Gary LaFree
Clark McCauley
Fran Norris
Steven M. Chermak
Joshua D. Freilich
R. Karl Rethemeyer
Kelly Damphousse
Brent L. Smith
Kathleen Smarick
Amy Adamczyk
Bianca Bersani
Ryan D. King
Kevin Fitzpatrick
Kathleen Deloughery
Sophia Moskalenko

This project seeks to further understand the county-level conditions associated with violent extremism. Are U.S. counties that experience violent extremism – or that “produce” a terrorist who attacks elsewhere – reliably different from other counties? Building upon related START projects and employing a range of different data sources and analytical methods, the project will specify constructs of county characteristics to explore the relationship of those characteristics to the occurrence and frequency of violent extremism and terrorism in and around those counties.

Specifically, the project will identify and examine the relationship among the occurrence of extremist violence in U.S. counties, and counties from which violent extremists emerge and in which they operate, and characteristics of those counties related to:
•The nature and robustness of civil society, including other levels of other criminal activity (including hate crimes), and the integration of immigrant populations
•The relevance of extremist ideologies, including levels of non-violent extremist activity and the interest in extremist media
•Public health and community well-being
•Economic development

This research is supported by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences Division.

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