Dr. Jesse Norris
Criminal Justice Associate Professor Jesse Norris was the lead author on an article addressing political violence.
Dr. Norris, of the Department of Sociocultural and Justice Sciences, was the lead author on, "Would you press a button to kill the president? Willingness to engage in political violence and its implications for terrorism sting operations," which was recently published in Critical Studies on Terrorism.
The article, which was co-authored with Dr. Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk of the State University at Buffalo and former Fredonia faculty member Dr. Joseph McFall, now at the Children’s Institute affiliated with the University of Rochester, surveyed a sample to Americans to measure people's potential willingness to engage in a variety of political violence-related behaviors.
The results, which find a large proportion of people are willing to commit or least passively support some forms of violence, suggests that many members of the public could be vulnerable to being entrapped in sting operations. The study's use of a qualitative follow-up question after one question shows that a sizable proportion misunderstood the question, showing that some political violence surveys may overestimate the percentage of the public with pro-violence views.
To view the article, click here.
