Rethinking the Path to Intended Violence

Calhoun, Frederick S.; Weston, Stephen W.

doi:10.1093/med-psych/9780190940164.003.0022

Cited by 4 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Lastly, our study highlights some of the key differences between the HCR‐20 V3 and the TRAP‐18 as applied to Sovereign Citizens. While both instruments follow an SPJ format with respect to the identification and measurement of risk factors, the TRAP‐18 places a greater emphasis on the identification of warning behaviors that may signal imminent violence, reflecting the influence of models such as the Pathway to Intended Violence (Calhoun & Weston, 2021). This departs from SPJ instruments' (including the HCR‐20 V3 ) emphasis on guiding the development of case formulations intended to identify those factors that serve to cause and facilitate violent behavior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Violence risk assessment of Sovereign Citizens: An exploratory examination of the HCR‐20 Version 3 and the TRAP‐18

Vargen

Challacombe

2023

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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Sovereign Citizens comprise an understudied right‐wing extremist movement in the United States who have grown in notoriety in recent years due to several high‐profile instances of violence. Despite this, little empirical research has been conducted on Sovereign Citizens, including research on assessing their risk for violence. In this study, we sought to replicate and extend a prior study on Sovereign Citizen violence. Using open‐source data, we added several new cases to a pre‐existing dataset of violent and non‐violent Sovereign Citizen incidents, yielding a total sample of 107 cases, 69 of which were scored using the HCR‐20V3, and 83 of which were scored using the TRAP‐18. Our findings indicated that higher scores on both instruments were significantly associated with greater odds of cases being violent. We also observed that several risk factors occurred with significantly more frequency among violent cases than non‐violent ones. Implications for future research and professional practice are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Violence risk assessment of Sovereign Citizens: An exploratory examination of the HCR‐20 Version 3 and the TRAP‐18

Vargen

Challacombe

2023

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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“…At least one case in every motive category exhibited leakage. This was not a surprising finding, inasmuch as leakage seems to also be generally prevalent in workplace and school-setting attacks (Calhoun & Weston, 2021). Leakage was originally conceived as communication to a third party of intent to do physical harm to a target (Meloy & O'Toole, 2011).…”

Section: Warning Signs/preattack Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grievance, part of the pathway to intended violence behavioral model (Calhoun & Weston, 2003), is in actuality "a personal perspective and state of mind" rather than a behavior (Calhoun & Weston, 2021). It represents a deeply held feeling of injustice or humiliation, which drives the individual to perseverate.…”

Section: Warning Signs/preattack Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Violence in a place of healing: Weapons-based attacks in health care facilities.

Huffman¹,

Amman²

2023

Journal of Threat Assessment and Management

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We examined 137 incidents of potentially lethal, weapon-enabled, targeted violence at health care facilities between 2008 and 2017 in the U.S. using open-source data. Individually held grievances by the perpetrator were commonly present. Perpetrators most commonly targeted one person, though collateral victimization did occur. Two thirds of cases involved at least one fatality. Firearm use outnumbered other forms of attack, followed distally by stabbing, blunt force trauma, and strangulation. Hospitals and residential care facilities represented the overwhelming majority of venues; patient rooms, main corridors/waiting areas, and parking areas were the most common locations of attack within facilities. Various attack characteristics, including weapon choice, perpetrator and victim relationship to the venue, incident location within a venue, were more frequently observed for certain motivations. Incidents involving an existing/former intimate relationship between the perpetrator and victim represented the largest proportion of cases. Preincident warning behaviors were most likely reported in cases motivated by disgruntlement with a perpetrator's own care or by intimate partner animus (IPA), and least likely in cases motivated by "mercy" or despondence over a loved one's health. These attacks usually continued until concluded by the perpetrator; perpetrator suicide occurred in a minority of cases. Potential mitigation measures are proposed for threat assessment professionals and facility staff. Public Significance StatementOur study revealed differences in perpetrator, attack, and victim characteristics based on motive for attack and expanded the current literature body on targeted attacks by including multiple types of health care facilities and weapons. The findings highlight unique vulnerabilities associated with each motive.

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“…Doing so focuses attention on those behaviors in which all subjects intent on violence must engage in order to consummate an act of intended violence. Using the concept of the path and its integrated milestones—grievance, ideation, research and planning, preparation, breach, and attack—helps place suspicious behaviors within an easily understandable context that facilitates training, reporting, and initial response (Calhoun & Weston, 2016, 2021; Weston & Calhoun, 2022).…”

Section: Case Examplementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our chapter contribution to the second edition of the International Handbook of Threat Assessment briefly sketched out our developing ideas, which we framed as the Detect, Report, Act (DRA) Process (Calhoun & Weston, 2021). A year later, we explained that concept to chiefs of police and other law enforcement managers (Weston & Calhoun, 2022).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Imagining the unimaginable to prepare for the unthinkable: Criteria for detecting, reporting, and acting to thwart intended violence.

Calhoun¹,

Weston²

2023

Journal of Threat Assessment and Management

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Imagining the Unimaginable" addresses the need for organizations to establish a process for detecting inappropriate behaviors and reporting them to entities capable of acting on the reports. The article recommends incorporating threat management concepts into law enforcement training curricula. It advocates establishing reporting procedures and identifying trained "designated receivers" within the various venues to receive and act on the reports. It also offers an all-purpose reporting guideline keyed on the path to intended violence that proposes "All Threat-All Reporting" criteria, serving as an educational tool for training everyone within law enforcement and different venues. Finally, the article explores the different responses needed for critical and noncritical threats. Together, these recommendations address the challenges involved in initially identifying problem individuals so that the threat management process can begin. Public Significance StatementThis article is significant because the detecting, reporting, and acting process it recommends fills the current void between the occurrence of a threatening or ominous act and the initiation of the threat management process of identifying, assessing, and managing problem individuals. The article also offers model criteria for what types of behaviors should be reported and recommends ways to train individuals on those criteria.

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Rethinking the Path to Intended Violence

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Violence risk assessment of Sovereign Citizens: An exploratory examination of the HCR‐20 Version 3 and the TRAP‐18

Violence risk assessment of Sovereign Citizens: An exploratory examination of the HCR‐20 Version 3 and the TRAP‐18

Violence in a place of healing: Weapons-based attacks in health care facilities.

Imagining the unimaginable to prepare for the unthinkable: Criteria for detecting, reporting, and acting to thwart intended violence.

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