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Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice pp 2336–2345Cite as

Homegrown Terrorism in the United States

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Synonyms

Domestic terrorism; Political violence; Terrorism inside the USA

Overview

This entry focuses on homegrown terrorism in the United States. There are many terrorism definitions. Indeed, Schmid and Jongman (1988) identified over 100 definitions that differed over whether they included 1 of 22 elements. Nonetheless, Freilich et al. (2009a, b) demonstrate that almost all definitions require a violent, ideologically motivated illegal act committed by a political extremist, and this definition is used here. The Congressional Research Service (Bjelopera and Randol 2010, p. 1) defines homegrown terrorism as a “terrorist activity or plots perpetuated within the United States or abroad by American citizens, permanent legal residents, or visitors radicalized largely within the United States.”

A review of the empirical literature demonstrates that homegrown terrorists currently pose a threat to public safety. These threats are dynamic however and change over time. In addition, policy...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jay College of Criminal Justice, 899 10th Avenue, New York, NY, 10019, USA

    Joshua D. Freilich

  2. School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 512 Baker Hall, East Lansing, MI, 48864, USA

    Steven M. Chermak

  3. National Consortium for the Studies of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), New York, USA

    Joshua D. Freilich

  4. National Consortium for the Studies of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Steven M. Chermak

  5. UNDSS Somalia SIOC, Off Lower Kabete Road, Springette, Spring Valley, Nairobi, 00200, 28832, Kenya

    Roberta Belli

Authors
  1. Joshua D. Freilich
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  2. Steven M. Chermak
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  3. Roberta Belli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joshua D. Freilich .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

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Freilich, J.D., Chermak, S.M., Belli, R. (2014). Homegrown Terrorism in the United States. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_93

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_93

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5689-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5690-2

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

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