By Mason Robert Dowless

This interdisciplinary research uses a mixed-method comparative-historical analysis to investigate the explosion of far-right militia activity during 2020-2021 through the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys are a violent far-right militia that resembles a gang. In every year since the Proud Boys’ founding in 2016, they have increased their activity. Their drastic increase in activity during 2020-2021 was accompanied by a large increase in violent activity. One of the most notorious was their large involvement in the January 6 insurrection. Their actions display their misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism. They openly deny these labels as they work to gain mainstream conservative appeal and legitimacy. Primary, secondary, and tertiary data on Proud Boy activities during both 2016-2019 and 2020-2021 was acquired and analyzed to determine how the unique socio-economic and political climate of 2020- 2021 influenced their growth. Furthermore, the information acquired and conclusions that were drawn were compared to the fall of Weimar Germany in the hopes that American liberal democracy will be able to avert a shift towards illiberalism and/or authoritarianism.

University of Texas, 2022. 93p.

By Samantha Kutner, Bjørn Ihler and C. L. Murray

The Proud Boys are a neo-fascist violent extremist organization with semi-autonomous chapters in America, Canada, Oceania and Europe. Their current organizational structure is built on a strategy common among extremist groups in the United States called “leaderless resistance”; it advocates for small groups to act autonomously while also being “united by a common mission”. In their own words, they claim that each group is autonomous, but all follow a common set of “core tenants”. In addition to their stated ideology, they have co-opted several high-profile issues over the course of their existence: Pro-Trump, anti-Antifa, anti-abortion, anti-indigenous, anti-mask, anti-“grooming”, etc.

For many individuals, the Proud Boys have served as a “gateway” to more violent extremist ideological movements and are often viewed as “a ‘stepping stone’ group to more extremist alt-right [groups].”

In order to better understand the group, and it’s impact in the US we have provided the following visualizations. The visualizations are also key to our report for the January 6th Select Committee on the group, and it’s role in American politics before, during and after the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th 2021.

Khalifa Ihler Institute. 2022. 43p.

By The National Crime Agency

The National Crime Agency’s Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS) has identified a significant increase in the number of reports to UK police forces about serious sexual assaults carried out by strangers that have been initiated through online dating. Reports indicate that these offences took place during the first face-to-face meeting between the victim and the offender after they initially met online. This emerging threat appears to be a result of the increasing popularity of online dating – including free and subscription services, dating websites, apps and ‘hook up’ services- combined with the behaviours and expectations fostered by an online environment. Early analysis indicates that the online dating phenomenon has produced a new type of sexual offender. These offenders are less likely to have criminal convictions, but instead exploit the ease of access and arm-chair approach to dating websites. This is aided by potential victims not thinking of them as strangers, but someone they have got to know. In many ways, the advent of dating web sites has made finding relationships a more convenient, easier and potentially less daunting affair for many. One in three relationships now start online and 7 million UK users are registered with online dating sites . The Online Dating Association (ODA) predicts that the number of internet dating sites and the number of individuals using them will rise and a similar increase in the use of dating apps and hook up sites is also predicted. In general, these online dating platforms offer relatively safe and positive opportunities for individuals to meet prospective partners. However, the observed increase in offences arising from them is still one that is substantial. Its significance strengthens when considered within the context of the levels of underreporting of rape offences, which is generally accepted at being only 17% of the true figure.

London: National Crime Agency, 2016. 15p.

By Jane Jacobs

A direct and fundamentally optimistic indictment of the short-sightedness and intellectual arrogance that has characterized much of urban planning in this century, The Death and Life of Great American Cities has, since its first publication in 1961, become the standard against which all endeavors in that field are measured. In prose of outstanding immediacy, Jane Jacobs writes about what makes streets safe or unsafe; about what constitutes a neighborhood, and what function it serves within the larger organism of the city; about why some neighborhoods remain impoverished while others regenerate themselves. She writes about the salutary role of funeral parlors and tenement windows, the dangers of too much development money and too little diversity. Compassionate, bracingly indignant, and always keenly detailed, Jane Jacobs's monumental work provides an essential framework for assessing the vitality of all cities.

New York: Random House, 1992. 458p.

By Andy B. Campbell

A gripping investigation into the nation’s most notorious far-right group, revealing how they created a new blueprint for extremism and turned American politics into a blood sport

After the 2016 election, Americans witnessed a frightening trend: the sudden rise of a host of new extremist groups across the country. Emboldened by a new president, they flooded political rallies and built fervent online presences, expanding rapidly until they were a regular sight at everyday demonstrations. Amid the chaos, one group emerged as a leader among the others, with matching outfits, bizarre rituals, and a reputation for violence: the Proud Boys.

Hatchette Books. NY. 2022. 263p.

By Faiza Patel and Meghan Koushik

Regardless of whether CVE is called Countering Radical Islam or not, the programs initiated under this rubric by the Obama administration — while couched in neutral terms — have, in practice, focused almost exclusively on American Muslim communities. This is despite the fact that empirical data shows that violence from far right movements results in at least as many fatalities in the U.S. as attacks inspired by Al Qaeda or the Islamic State.7 CVE not only stigmatizes Muslim communities as inherently suspect, it also creates serious risks of flagging innocuous activity as pre-terrorism and suppressing religious observance and speech. These flaws are only exacerbated when CVE programs are run by an administration that is overtly hostile towards Muslims, and that includes within its highest ranks individuals known for their frequent and public denunciations of a faith that is practiced by 1.6 billion people around the world.8 CVE has been part of the conversation about counterterrorism for over a decade, but the approach became more prominent in the United States starting in 2011, when the White House issued its “National Strategy for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.” CVE aims to supplement law enforcement counterterrorism tactics such as surveillance, investigations, and prosecutions with a secondary set of prevention measures.

New York: Brennan Center for Justice, 2017. 80p.

By Sukhwant Dhaliwal and Liz Kelly

This is a literature review on what we know about the connections between radicalisation and violence against women and girls. We ran 85 searches of academic databases and used Google Scholar where there was little available through peer reviewed journals. The searches and this literature review focus on religious supremacist formations(otherwise known as fundamentalism) and racial/white supremacists(or Far Right and Alt-Right organisations and ideology). We begin by defining racial and religious supremacism and then discuss gendered approaches to preventing violent extremism. The main part of this literature review is structured according to five common themes: purity and imperialism; intimate partner and family violence; sexual violence; antifeminism; and masculinity.

London: London Metropolitan University, Child and Women Abuse Studies Unit, 2020. 49p.

By Melissa Johnston with Sara Meger

“Linkages between Violent Misogyny and Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism” (VERLT) provides concrete recommendations for further research and policy development, aiming to enhance gender-responsive approaches to preventing and countering VERLT in the OSCE area.

The policy brief findings and recommendations, and the gaps and existing good practices in addressing violent misogyny in P/CVERLT policy were discussed by a panel of government, civil society and academic experts.

Furthermore, in a small roundtable held after the launch, technical experts identified concrete recommendations for the OSCE and its participating States on how to mitigate risks related to violent misogyny in VERLT while applying human rights compliant and “Do No Harm” –approaches.

Vienna: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, 2022. 19p.

By Jorg Kustermans

The Ministerial Committee of 25 March 2005 adopted the Radicalism Action Plan, motivated in part by the fact that several of the men who committed the attacks in Madrid had been radicalized in Belgium. Later that year, the relevance of such policy initiatives was confirmed when Muriel Degauque, a woman from Charleroi in Belgium, committed a suicide attack in Iraq. In Flanders, however, policy-makers only really focused on radicalization as a possible precursor of terrorism when it emerged, in the course of 2013, that a disproportionately high number of young Belgians had left for Syria to fight against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad. This was clearly a cause for concern, only increasing as the configuration of the Syrian conflict changed and it became clear that a large number of the Flemish combatants in Syria had joined the ranks of the Islamic State. …..Municipalities had already expressed discontent earlier about the lack of a Flemish (and federal) radicalization policy. This changed with the advent of a new Government of Flanders in 2014. Minister Liesbeth Homans, who is in charge of coordinating the Flemish radicalization policy, published a concept paper. On 14 January 2015, the Flemish Parliament established a committee to combat violent radicalization, which organised five hearings with experts and organizations with relevant experience. They discussed a wide range of topics and areas of responsibility under the headings of security, education, welfare and diversity. The Committee’s work has meanwhile given rise to a draft Flemish Parliament resolution.

Brussels: Flemish Peace Institute, 2015. 23p

By Martin Ewi, Liesl Louw-Vaudran, Willem Els, Richard Chelin, Yussuf Adam and Elisa Samuel Boerekamp

In 2016, the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) published by the Institute of Economics and Peace ranked Mozambique among the 51 countries in the world most affected by terrorism. Four years later, in 2020, the country had become one of top 15 most affected countries in the world. In Africa, the list includes countries such as Libya, Egypt, Cameroon, Mali, Somalia and Nigeria, which are renowned for terrorism. Mozambique was also rated among the three countries with the largest increases in terrorist deaths from the previous year. In 2021, it moved further up the ladder of notorious countries when the 2022 GTI ranked it 13th of 163 countries surveyed.

How and why did another African country with high potential for economic development and a promising democracy quickly descend into the abyss of instability? Was it a victim of the global franchising of terrorism or the result of deep-rooted internal grievances?

Pretoria, South Africa: Institute for Security Studies, 2022. 52p.

By Milo Comerford, Jakob Guhl and Carl Miller

Two years ago on March 15th 2019 the Christchurch attack highlighted the profound impact of online extremism in New Zealand. The subsequent Royal Commission of Inquiry on the attack painted a clear picture of a terrorist embedded within an international online extremist ecosystem, inspired and instructed by YouTube videos, and using extreme right-wing discussion boards, including 4chan and 8chan (now 8kun). New Zealand’s ‘Christchurch Call’ initiative would go on to provide an international plan of action for curbing violent extremist use of the Internet – and help put far-right terrorism on the global agenda. But the Royal Commission set out the urgent need for an improved domestic picture of the challenge New Zealand faces from online extremism, how it has developed, as well as emerging trends.

Beirut; Berlin; London; Paris; and Washington DC: Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2021. 20p.

By The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center

This issue-brief presents key findings from a 2015 survey of all 50 States that solicited information from State juvenile correctional agencies on the following issues: the educational and vocational services provided to incarcerated youth; what student outcome data are collected, analyzed, and reported; and what is done to ensure that youth receive educational and vocational services after release from incarceration.

The brief also provides recommendations for local and State policymakers and advocates that are intended to improve college and career readiness for youth in the juvenile justice system. In addition, there are examples of how select States have implemented these recommendations in policy and practice. The analysis of the survey findings yielded three key findings. First, most incarcerated youth do not have access to the same educational and vocational services as their peers in the community; and they do not attend schools that have the same rigorous curriculum and student performance standards as traditional public schools. Second, most States do not collect, track, and report student outcome data for incarcerated youth in all facility schools. Third, policies and practices in most States do not facilitate an effective transition to community-based education or vocational settings for youth after release from incarceration. Recommendations target each of these findings; and following each set of recommendations, an example is provided of how a particular State has implemented some of the recommendations. Overall, State policymakers, along with juvenile justice and educational/vocational administrators, must cooperate in overseeing and delivering high-quality educational and vocational services to incarcerated youth in their States and provide an effective transition to community-based educational and vocational programs after their release.

Lexington, KY: The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center 2015. 16p.

By The National Policing Institute and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)

Law enforcement agencies play a critical role in preserving the people’s fundamental right to peaceably assemble and in facilitating demonstrators’ safety and security as they exercise their First Amendment rights. At the same time, they must also identify when law enforcement interventions are necessary in order to maintain safety and public order. Officials must protect the rights of citizens to protest, while simultaneously safeguarding property and preserving officer and community safety.

This project aims to address these challenges and provide recommendations for state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies responding to mass demonstrations. The U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) partnered with the National Policing Institute (NPI) and Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) to conduct this project. The areas examined for this project include community relationship building before, during, and after mass demonstrations; officer safety and wellness; mass demonstration response strategies; communication; planning, preparation, and training; and community perspectives on mass demonstrations.

Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2022. 62p.

This guide begins by describing the problem and reviewing the factors that increase the risks of school traffic congestion. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and local practice. For the purposes of this guide, school-related traffic congestion is defined as the overcrowding and blocking of streets on or near school property that is typically associated with car transportation of children to and from school.

This guide addresses school vandalism and break-ins, describing the problem and reviewing the risk factors. It also discusses the associated problems of school burglaries and arson. The guide then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice. The term school vandalism refers to willful or malicious damage to school grounds and buildings or furnishings and equipment.

There is new concern about school violence, and police have assumed greater responsibility for helping school officials ensure students’ safety. As pressure increases to place officers in schools, police agencies must decide how best to contribute to student safety. Will police presence on campuses most enhance safety? If police cannot or should not be on every campus, can they make other contributions to student safety? What are good approaches and practices?

The guide begins by describing the problem and reviewing factors that increase the risk of bomb threats in schools. The guide then identifies a series of questions that might assist you in analyzing the local problem of bomb threats in schools. Finally, the guide reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.

By Nigel Copsey and Samuel Merrill

Anti-fascist militancy has existed for as long as fascism has, but militant anti-fascism is still largely neglected across both academic and policy-practitioner communities. A far more robust, evidence-based understanding is now needed, especially in a context where militant anti-fascist protest in the United States has been conflated with ‘domestic terrorism’.

The militant anti-fascist movement, or Antifa, is a de-centralised, non-hierarchical social movement. It is loosely structured on dispersed networks of local groups. It has a distinctly anti-authoritarian orientation, consisting, for the most part, of anarchists; anarcho-communists; left-libertarians; and radical socialists. The movement is transnational, but it responds in local conditions.

This report presents evidence from six local case studies: three from the United States: Portland, New York City, Philadelphia; and three from Britain: Brighton, Liverpool, London. It adopts a multi-method approach, combining interviews with anti-fascist activists drawn from these six localities as well as analysis of digital platforms used by local militant anti-fascist groups (Rose City Antifa; NYC Antifa; Philly Antifa; Brighton Antifascists; Merseyside Anti-Fascist Network; and London Antifascists).

Lancaster, UK: Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST), 2021. 90p.

By Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, Bennett Clifford and Lorenzo Vidino

Antisemitism is pervasive throughout several categories of American extremist movements, both violent and non-violent. American extremists incorporate antisemitic tropes and narratives in every level of their worldviews, using them to help construct “us/them” dichotomies and wide-sweeping conspiracies that are essential to their movements. • During the past several decades, the American extremist movements that have been among the most violent—specifically, far-right and jihadist groups—have used antisemitism to target Jewish people, Jewish houses of worship, Jewish community institutions, and Americans supporting the Jewish state of Israel. …. • Several case studies of violent American extremists, representing far-right and jihadist movements respectively, demonstrate that antisemitism can be an integral part of American extremists’ progression through the radicalization process and in justifying terrorist attacks. • Based on this report’s finding that antisemitism is foundational to multiple violent extremist movements in the United States, counter-extremism practitioners and scholars may consider incorporating antisemitism as a diagnostic factor for extremist radicalization.

Washington, DC: George Washington University, Program on Extremism, 2020. 27p.

By The Program on Extremism, The George Washington University

This report aims to provide a preliminary assessment of the siege participants. While the authors are cognizant that more individuals are likely to be charged in the future, and not one individual has yet been convicted in a court of law, the documents released thus far yield significant insight into the nexus between the siege participants and a wide array of domestic violent extremist (DVE) ideologies, actors, and movements. As such, this is a preliminary report. However, as ongoing conversations about how best to respond to January 6th have the potential to shape policy, taking stock of the allegations against participants can help inform more nuanced discourse and effective policymaking.

Washington, DC: Program on Extremism, George Washington University, 2021. 52p.