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This dissertation investigates the pathways leading to violent extremism, participation in violence, and judicial responses to terrorism. By comparing individuals who joined extremist groups with those who shared similar beliefs and backgrounds but did not engage in violence, the study identifies key differentiating factors. Interviews with former members of the Red Brigades and other major leftist extremist organizations active in 1970s Italy, as well as potential recruits, coupled with testimonies from sensitive archival documents, reveal that exposure to critical moments can trigger a reconsideration of normative values. When the perception of injustice is high and the fear of violence is low, this reconsideration can lead to extremism. The research further proposes that militants' participation in violence is influenced by extra-group factors, such as isolation from family, and intra-group factors, such as violence committed by extremist organizations. Reviewing over 50,000 sensitive documents from various Italian State Archives enabled the creation of an original dataset and a Large-N analysis. The results indicate that density of social networks deter initial engagement in criminal activities and that there is a linear correlation between militants’ violence engagement and the violence inflicted by terrorist organizations across Italy, regardless of ideological stance. Finally, judicial responses to terrorism are examined to understand how judges' evaluations of group violence and individual crimes influence sentences. Interviews with jurists and statistical analysis of original data support these findings. Jurists indirectly acknowledged that the period’s conditions affected their judicial behavior, and negative binomial models show that increased attacks and ambush injuries lead to substantially longer sentences for members of the attacking group. The study highlights the need to understand violent extremism, noting that grievances in democratic countries can lead to violence. This is evident in the rise of right-wing extremism in North America and Europe, which can quickly escalate into violent actions. @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-469750017 -1073732485 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0in; text-align:justify; line-height:200%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:11.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}.MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:8.0pt; line-height:107%;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}

The barbaric and targeted killings of police officers have become a growing epidemic facing the nation. An immediate consequence has created the monumental task in protecting the men and women who daily put their lives on the line on behalf of the public. Staggering national numbers over these last ten years has indicated a strong surge in the number of law enforcement officers being ambushed by domestic extremists. The purpose of the current research study was to present an overall awareness and threat picture to the law enforcement and academic communities to better educate men and women in law enforcement and to explain who exactly are these domestic extremist groups and/or individuals carrying out this violence and their ideologies and traits that make them crave such an outcome. The current research study utilized a strong exploratory qualitative focus by interviewing several law enforcement members and intelligence personnel in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area to (a) gauge their jurisdictional domestic extremist threat picture; (b) to understand what policing tactics were being employed currently to produce effective “officer safety” protocols while embracing community relationships (if any); and (c) what recommendations they may have for other jurisdictions that will keep safe law enforcement men and women. If one law enforcement life can be saved from the current research study, then every second spent on the research was well worth it.