Murder and Extremism in the United States in 2022. Including an In-Depth Analysis of Extremist Mass Killings

By the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism

Domestic extremists killed at least 25 people in 12 separate incidents in the United States in 2022, down from the 33 extremist-related murders documented in 2021. It continues the recent trend of fewer extremist-related killings after a five-year span of 47-78 extremist-related murders per year (2015-2019). 

• The majority of extremist-related deaths in 2022 occurred as part of high-casualty mass shooting events. Extremist-related mass killings have increased at an alarming rate.  More than half (57%) of the ideological mass killings in the United States since 1970 have occurred in the past 12 years.

• Almost all the killings in 2022 (93%) were committed with firearms.

• Of the 444 people killed at the hands of extremists over the past 10 years, 335 (or 75%) were killed by right-wing extremists.

• Of the 335 murders committed by right-wing extremists over the past 10 years, 73% were committed by white supremacists.

• In 2022, 18 of the 25 extremist-related murders appear to have been committed in whole or part for ideological motives, while the remaining seven murders either have no clear motive or were committed for a non-ideological motive.

“One of the most alarming trends in extremist violence in recent years has been the increase in mass killing attempts by extremists,” said Oren Segal, Vice President for the ADL Center on Extremism. “It is frankly too easy for an individual motivated by hate to purchase a weapon and enter a house of worship, an LBGTQ+ bar, a supermarket or any other public place and wreak havoc on so many lives. We cannot stand idly by and accept this as the new norm.”

New York: ADL, 2023. 36p.