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How 'Islamic State' Uses AI to Spread Extremist Propaganda
Groups like the “Islamic State” and al-Qaeda are urging followers to use the latest digital tools to spread their extremist message, avoid censorship and recruit.
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Reports: DHS’ Parole Programs Allowed Inadmissible Violent Criminals to Enter, Stay in U.S.
A wave of violent crime has befallen Americans nationwide connected to parole programs created by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, according to several reports. A pattern has emerged of single men illegally entering the U.S. who are considered inadmissible under federal law. Instead of being processed for removal, Border Patrol agents released them with a “notice to appear” before an immigration judge several years into the future.
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U.S. Homicides and Violent Crime Overall Are Down Significantly, according to FBI Data
The U.S. is experiencing a significant decline nationally in homicides, according to FBI data – in fact, U.S. murders have been on the decrease for three decades, but Americans are generally not aware of the trend.
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Police Are Using Drones More and Spending More for Them
Police in Minnesota are buying and flying more drones than ever before, according to an annual report recently released by the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). Minnesotan law enforcement flew their drones without a warrant 4,326 times in 2023, racking up a state-wide expense of over $1 million.
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U.S.’s Terrorist Listing of European Far-Right Group Signals Fears of Rising Threat − Both Abroad and at Home
The rise of the radical far right in Europe poses a threat not only to the continent but also to Americans at home and abroad. But while the U.S. government tends to be quick to use sanctions against perceived bad actors across the globe, when it comes to the transnational threat that far-right violence poses, successive U.S. administrations have been more coy about using another critical and effective tool: terrorist designations.
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New Report Advises How Ransomware Victims Can Be Better Supported
A new report aims to shed light on the experience of victims of ransomware and identify several key factors that typically shape these experiences.
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Despite What Some Politicians Say, Crime Rates Are Decreasing
Violent crime in the United States dropped significantly in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year, but some politicians continue to assert the opposite. Criminologists caution that while the overall decline in violent crime is an indisputable fact, the story may be different in individual cities and neighborhoods.
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Illegal Immigrant Murderers in Texas, 2013–2022
Crime committed by illegal immigrants is an important and contentious public policy issue, but it is notoriously difficult to measure and compare their criminal conviction rates with those of other groups such as legal immigrants and native‐born Americans. Most research, however, finds that all immigrants in the United States are less likely to commit crime or be incarcerated than native‐born Americans.
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‘Gun Control Is Dead and We Killed It’: Unmasking the ‘Lonely Incel’ Who Designed the World’s Most Popular 3D-printed Firearm
The first 3D-printed firearm emerged in May 2013, but Despite the hype, the reality was that the gun was impractical and unreliable. It was not until spring 2020 that the threat of 3D-printed guns grew significantly with the emergence of the FGC-9. The open-source design was accompanied by a meticulous, step-by-step instructional guide akin to an Ikea assembly booklet. The gun’s mysterious designer boasted in one anonymized interview that, by bringing out these designs and sharing them freely: “We f****d gun control for good; Gun control is dead, and we killed it.”
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Racist Slurs and Death Threats: The Dangerous Life of a Georgia Elections Official
The lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election have resonated with many Douglas County, Georgia, voters. Now many nonpartisan officials across the country are forced to face their ire. Ere is how one Georgia county official navigates the hatred inspired by election lies.
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Modern-Day Outlaws, “Sovereign Citizens” Threaten the Rule of Law
The FBI considers sovereign citizens a domestic terrorism threat. My research into sovereign citizens has found they have long been active in the U.S. and other countries. At the core of their beliefs is the denial of the government’s legitimacy. They commonly do not register their vehicles, acquire driver’s licenses or car insurance, or pay taxes. And they pose a significant threat to the public.
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Beyond The ‘Incel Attacker’: Media Reporting on Cases of Misogynist Violence
Incidents of misogynist violence are often tenuously linked to the wider incel community in media reports, most notably in the immediate aftermath of attacks carried out by lone male perpetrators. But it is important clearly to separate cases of misogynist violence from the wider incel community. and offers recommendations to journalists who report on such violence.
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Rising Threats to Public Officials: A Review of 10 Years of Federal Data
A review of federal charges for the past decade highlights that the number of threats to public officials is growing. While 2013-2016 had an average of 38 federal charges per year, that number sharply increased to an average of 62 charges per year between 2017-2022. Across the time series, ideologically motivated threats, on average, accounted for almost half of the cases, and the portion steadily increased year over year. A preliminary review of cases from 2023 and 2024 shows that the number of federal prosecutions is on pace to hit new record highs. The rising threat level may produce significant consequences for the U.S. democratic system of governance.
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The Supreme Court’s Ghost Gun Case Could Jeopardize Other Firearm Regulations
Legal experts say the ruling could expand Second Amendment protections to the gun industry, imperiling a host of laws governing the manufacture and sale of firearms.
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Even When a Cop Is Killed with an Illegally Purchased Weapon, the Gun Store’s Name Is Kept Secret
A 2003 law pushed by the gun industry limits the information shared by federal agents and shields gun shops from public scrutiny, but ProPublica was able to identify the store that sold the gun used in the shooting of a Chicago police officer.
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The long view
Why Was Pacific Northwest Home to So Many Serial Killers?
Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway, George Russell, Israel Keyes, and Robert Lee Yates were serial killers who grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the shadow of smelters which spewed plumes of lead, arsenic, and cadmium into the air. As a young man, Charles Manson spent ten years at a nearby prison, where lead has seeped into the soil. The idea of a correlation between early exposure to lead and higher crime rates is not new. Fraser doesn’t explicitly support the lead-crime hypothesis, but in a nimble, haunting narrative, she argues that the connections between an unfettered pollution and violent crime warrant scrutiny.