Written content indicators of problematic approach behavior toward political officials

Abstract

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.

Mental Disorders, Personality Traits, and Grievance-Fueled Targeted Violence: The Evidence Base and Implications for Research and Practice

“…psychosis). Scalora et al (2002aScalora et al ( , 2002b and Schoeneman et al (2011) found similar results.…”

Outcome and Efficacy of Interventions by a Public Figure Threat Assessment and Management Unit: A Mirrored Study of Concerning Behaviors and Police Contacts Before and After Intervention

“…In the study sample, mental illness was a prominent feature. This is in line with case series from other public figure threat assessment units, such as that for the United States Congress (Schoeneman et al, ) and the Dutch Royal Family (van der Meer et al, ), the relation between mental illness and the behaviors under study being similar across countries and, indeed, historical periods (James, Farnham & Wilson, ). One characteristic of the case sample studied here which is probably unusual concerns case disposal: UK mental health legislation, in permitting compulsory hospital admission in the interests of a person's health, rather than only on the grounds of harm to self or others, probably results in a greater proportion of cases being managed by that route.…”

“…In an increasingly active research field, further detailed work on associations of concerning communications and approaches to public figures has been carried out in the USA (Scalora et al, ,b; Scalora, Baumgartner, & Plank, ; Schoeneman‐Morris, Scalora, Chang, Zimmerman, & Garner, ; Schoeneman et al, ) and in the UK (James et al, ; ,c; , et al, ,b), among other places. (A summary of contemporary research can be found in Hoffman, Meloy, & Sheridan, .)…”

The Role of Warning Behaviors in Threat Assessment: An Exploration and Suggested Typology

“…Threat assessment involves the assessment of levels of concern on a subject who has been flagged by some aspect of their behavior, and is based upon what (often limited) evidence is available at the time. Examples of agencies which operate in this manner in the field of public figures are the U.S. Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section (Scalora et al, ; Schoeneman et al, ), the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC; James et al, ) in London and the U.S. Secret Service (Fein & Vossekuil, ; Phillips, ). Warning behaviors in this context are intended to be used as indications of a recent or current significant increase in risk which requires a response.…”