Capellan (2015) sees both ideological and non-ideological mass shootings as belonging to one broader type of homicide defined as lone actor grievance-fueled violence. In particular for offenders deemed to be lone actors, the boundaries between terrorism and other forms of offending are blurred ( Capellan, 2015 Kenyon et al., 2021a Clemmow et al., 2022). In fact, recent work has introduced a comparative approach that builds on the commonalities between perpetrators of, for example, high school shootings, hate crimes, and terrorist attacks ( Brooks and Shaw, 2022 Clemmow et al., 2022 Ebbrecht, 2022). Online radicalization processes have been of major concern, not only in the area of terrorism, but in the wider field of grievance-based violence. This allows us to arrive, fourth, at a quantification of threat levels, which, we believe, is crucial to current debate. For this, our emphasis is on recent, quantitative studies, less so on qualitative and theory-driven work, although we acknowledge the wealth of important contributions from such work in the wider thematic area. Third, we will review recent evidence that is available on the prevalence of online radicalization and the resulting level of threat. Second, we will address current positions and debates surrounding the relevance and mechanisms of online radicalization in terrorist offending. This will allow for an outline of the extent to which the specifics of terrorism studies are generalizable and can contribute to a wider integrative perspective on grievance and violence. The present work will, first, situate online radicalization leading to terrorist acts within the wider context of grievance-based beliefs and attitudes. From a forensic perspective, such radicalized individuals are seen as at an increased risk of committing offenses which may take the form of violence, causing harm and death to many, as in violent acts of terrorism ( Kenyon et al., 2021a Evans and Williams, 2022 Hamid and Ariza, 2022). This definition is adopted for entirely pragmatic reasons and should not mask the fact that almost none of its terms has gone uncontested ( Neumann, 2013 Gill et al., 2015 Macdonald and Whittaker, 2019 Evans and Williams, 2022 Rothut et al., 2022). Online radicalization is here understood as a process during which individuals get exposed to, imitate and internalize extremist beliefs and attitudes, by means of the Internet, in particular social media, and other forms of online communication. ![]() This work is concerned with the extent and magnitude of threat related to online radicalization in the context of terrorist acts and related offending. Online radicalization as a cause for common concern This assessment, however, refers to the present only and is unlikely to hold for the future, given the general growth and acceleration of online activity among terrorist actors. While online radicalization does occur, with and without reference to offline processes, the resulting threat is not overly high. This is followed by a discussion of plausible, but opposing, interpretations of the estimates presented. Recent evidence from quantitative studies is reviewed to estimate prevalence of online radicalization and the level of threat that results from it. Further, it addresses current positions and debates surrounding the relevance and mechanisms of online radicalization in terrorist offending. ![]() The present work situates online radicalization leading to terrorist acts within the wider context of grievance-based beliefs and attitudes. This is most pronounced in the discussion of so-called lone actor terrorism, but extends to all forms of extremist offending, and beyond. Online influences have been depicted as major drivers for the propagation and adoption of extremist ideologies, which often contain an element of collective grievance, and subsequent acts of violence.
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