Those charged with assessing and managing threatening communications must utilize risk factors that are behavioral, operational, and reasonably attainable during investigations. This project examined 326 written correspondence cases of an inappropriate, disruptive, or threatening nature that targeted political officials, with the specific goal of identifying written content indicators of problematic approach behavior. Results revealed that subjects who engaged in problematic approach activity toward their targets had more criminal history, past threat assessment activity, familiarity with firearms, past substance use, and indicators of serious mental illness. Approachers were more likely to engage in multiple contact methods, target dispersion, more overall contacts, and prior contact with their target. Numerous content themes were associated with future problematic approach, including longer handwritten correspondence, referencing specific events, making demands, mentioning stressors, focus on personal themes, feeling their rights were violated, and expressing an intention to approach. Harassing, insulting, and threatening language was not related to approach behavior. The implications of these findings are wide-ranging for the practice of threat assessment.

We used a content analytic methodology to search William Styron's memoir, Darkness Visible, for metaphors of depression, treatment, recovery, and psychological phenomena. Of the 1,383 metaphors identified, 55% dealt with depression. Treatment, recovery, and suicide metaphors represented 9%, 7%, and 6% of the sample, respectively. Inspection of Styron's metaphors suggested that he characterized depression and suicide as having a directionality that is down, in, and away and as a sequential process of suffering and adversity that is a form of malevolence and annihilation. In contrast, recovery is up, out, and through and characterized as a sequential process of return to a life of goodness and light. Our analysis indicated that the metaphor system of Darkness Visible is internally consistent: Metaphors for similar concepts show recurrent and compatible patterns whereas metaphors of opposing concepts contain opposing comparisons. Styon's metaphor system is also externally valid, in the sense that it reflects a number of interlocking cultural programs, including patterns of everyday thought, historical stereotypes of mental disorder, Western conceptions of emotion and mental illness, and literary traditions of the description of depression. We discuss the implications of our findings for public education about depression and for theories about the relationship between social cognition and social knowledge.To most of those who have experienced it, the horror of depression is so overwhelming as to be quite beyond expression .

Compared to other sectors of government, limited research has been performed analyzing harassing and threatening behavior toward the judicial branch, despite noteworthy cases of violent activity directed toward judges and other judicial personnel. Data for this study involved 351 cases drawn from the United States Marshals Service’s threat investigation files. Consistent with other targeted violence literature, a range of concerning behavior was directed toward the USMS protectees, with a majority of the contacts involving threatening communications. The concerning behavior in question was also influenced by a range of grievances, with many taking a personalized theme involving legal and related concerns. Multivariate analyses indicate that the problematic approach was significantly related to intensity of effort demonstrated within contact behaviors. Level of threatening behavior and incarceration status also related to approach activity. Problematic behavior was found to significantly decrease after various USMS interventions. Implications of the findings are discussed in detail.

No abstract

No abstract