Decoding the U.S. justice system’s response to typologies of domestic terrorism

Abstract

This study adjudicates disparities in the United States government’s response to different terrorism typologies under a domestic legal framework. Far Right and Islamic Extremist typologies were compared and informed by Structural-Contextual theory. The study leveraged data from the American Terrorism Study to evaluate empirically prosecutorial approaches, plea and trial conviction rates, the magnitude of investigatory resources applied, and levels of explained variance between groups. Total conviction rates were largely different among groups, with significantly harsher outcomes for Islamic Extremists. The author proposes a variation of Structural-Contextual theory, where a proactive political environment is predictive of more severe outcomes.