Similarities and Differences Between Lone Wolf Terrorists and Mass Murderers

Earlier this year, the National Institute of Justice released an article entitled, " What Can We Learn from the Similarities and Differences Between Lone Wolf Terrorists and Mass Murderers?" based on the June 2016 report funded by the U.S. Department of Justice,  Across the Universe? A Comparative Analysis of Violent Behavior and Radicalization Across Three Offender Types with Implications for Criminal Justice Training and Education (PDF).

The article was prompted by an increase in the term "lone wolves" in media reports, also known as lone actor terrorists, and new concerns about preventing these types of terrorist attacks when an individual appears to be acting alone. The report examined whether any differences exist between lone actor terrorists and mass murderers. While the two are often assumed to be distinct, specifically regarding their motivation, they both participate in public and highly publicized acts of violence using similar weapons.

 

After analyzing 71 lone actor terrorists and 115 solo mass murderers, researchers found that there is little to differentiate these two offender types from a socio-demographic perspective. The behavior differences lie in three specific areas: the degree to which they interact with co-conspirators, their antecedent event behaviors, and the degree to which they leak information prior to the attack. Specifically, lone actor terrorists were significantly more likely to verbalize their intent to commit violence to their friends, family, or a wider audience and make people aware of their desire to hurt others. This is particularly useful information for campus safety officials who may glean information through social media threat alerts, receive reports from other students with concerning information, or work with campus threat assessment teams. If you missed our previous free webinars on social media use in campus safety or behavioral threat assessment on campus, you can view them on demand in our webinar archives. You can also find numerous threat assessment resources in our library.

 

Further, researchers found that mass murderers lack an ideology behind their violent actions in contrast to lone actor terrorists. The majority (57%) of mass murderers are motivated by personal feelings of being wronged by a specific person. They also do not concern themselves with post-event activity and analysis. This approach is in direct contrast to lone actor terrorists who make decisions based on research and specific calculations related to political and security climates. However, even with these distinctions, similar threat and risk assessment strategies are viable for both types of offenders.

 

While the researchers acknowledge that few in-depth studies have been conducted on this subject leading to shortcoming of information, this study provides important insight into the topic. The report also includes risk factors related to lone actor violent events and more than a dozen case studies.