How can DHS partner with families of radicalized extremists to prevent attacks and reduce the risk of recidivism?

Why Families Don't Report Suspicious Activity

So What?

The first line of defense in preventing terrorism and targeted violence is often those closest to the actors — family. But barriers stand in the way. What can we learn from families to lower the technological, social, and financial barriers to reporting?

Project Summary

This project focuses on family members of violent extremists and the role that they can play in targeted violence and terrorism prevention (TVTP), as well as how DHS and other TVTP entities can leverage community partnerships to help prevent violent extremism. The researchers contribute to existing knowledge through in-depth interviews with family members, and will use these results for research briefs, academic manuscripts, presentations, and training modules for the federal government.

Purpose/Objectives

The primary objective of this research project is to identify how prevention practitioners can leverage community partnerships, including with family members of radicalized individuals, for targeted violence and terrorism prevention. The research team has two primary objectives: to better understand how family members of violent extremists recognize, respond to, and mitigate violent radicalization, and to understand how TVTP agencies can work with these family members to reduce recidivism.

Method

This project utilizes two primary strategies to meet these objectives: in-depth interviews with family members of radicalized individuals and the collection of multiple public data sources. The in-depth interviews with family members range from four to seven hours, with 65 total hours of recorded interview data so far. These interviews will be analyzed through deductive-oriented data analyses. The public data sources will be collected from various domains, including news outlets and government documents. These data will be used to enhance the findings from the interviews.

Outputs and Impact

• Research briefs, academic manuscripts, and presentations
• Strategy for developing training resources

Karyn Sporer, Ph.D. University of Maine Associate Professor Department of Sociology Expertise: Violent extremism and terrorism, family violence and victimization, mental illness and violence, and drug policy

Publications

• Facilitating Suspicious Activity Reporting at the Community Level - with Brooke Buxton - June 2023
• Facilitating Suspicious Activity Reporting at the Community Level: Family Members' Observations of Non-Ideological Risk Factors and Signs of Radicalization Among Violent Extremists - June 2022
• Barriers to Family Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) of Mobilization Behaviors and Pre-Operational Planning: Report to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - April 2022
• Barriers to Family Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) of Mobilization Behaviors and Pre-Operational Planning: Report to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - February 2021