12/08/2021
By Karen Mullins

The School of Criminology and Justice Studies is proud to announce a Dissertation Proposal Defense by John D. Colautti entitled "Evaluating Violent Extremism Spatial Decision-Making in the United States" on Monday, Dec. 20 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. via Zoom.

Committee:

  • Neil Shortland, Chair
  • James J. F. Forest
  • April F. Pattavina
  • James M. Silver

Abstract: Criminological theory has often focused on the relationship between offender and the space that they offend. Various criminological theories have argued there is a relationship between the offender(s) home and the location of the crime. Different models by researchers expanded to include geospatial analyses of specific offenses, as well as aspects of the environment that make it appealing to offenders within (such as the lack of a guardian).

Those who study terrorism have increasingly used criminological perspectives to explore the relationship between offender and target. Studies have focused on spatial and temporal attack analysis; geographic and situational terrain determinants; analysis of dates and specific events; social-spatial network dependencies; situational and individual target selection factors; as well as the effect of ideology on target selection. One aspect missing from the geographical studies of behavior, and indeed that separates terrorism from other forms of violence, is the role of a wider group/network as a critical influence on the behavior and decision-making of the terrorist offender. Since terrorist networks are not a static and adapt to world events (e.g., wars) and counter-terrorism efforts, the degree of individual behavior “associated” and “influenced” by a wider network varies. This evolving nature of terrorist behavior has not been investigated using perspectives from geospatial analysis. This adaptation of terrorist organizations over time, arguably, is likely to manifest in quantitative shifts in behavior related to where terrorist attacks occur, and the relationship between the attack site and the individual. As such, this research proposal aims to analyze how individual attack geographical behaviors is impacted by structural and environmental changes by the wider terrorist group they are associated/affiliated with.