Motives for targeted violence

Extreme beliefs may be based on distortion of facts (e.g., conspiracy theories) or may advocate distrust, hatred, or the use of violence targeting others based on biases against a particular race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity.

The reason(s) why the individual engaged in the behavior that elicited concern or brought them to the attention of law enforcement.

Motive also includes assessing the reasons that may drive an individual to carry out an act of violence.

Motives may be multifaceted and include retaliating for grievances or perceived wrongs (e.g., bullying, failed romantic relationships, or workplace issues); furthering ideological, bias-related, or political beliefs; acting in response to psychotic symptoms; having a desire to kill; achieving fame or notoriety; or committing suicide-by-cop.

BTAUs will be better equipped to make an informed assessment of risk if they have identified what is, or could be, motivating someone to become violent.

There are four elements that should guide the management of concerning behavior during a behavioral threat assessment. BTAUs should take steps to: • address factors of concern and promote positive factors, • redirect potential motives for violence, • create a situation less prone to violence, and • utilize the Systems Approach for management.

Prior NTAC research has identified common motives for those who have planned or perpetrated acts of targeted violence.

For example, in a study examining mass attacks in public spaces, NTAC found that such attacks were most commonly motivated by grievances (e.g., personal, workplace, or domestic), ideologies/racial bias, symptoms of psychosis (e.g., paranoia or delusions), desire to kill, and seeking fame or notoriety.

Motives are often multifaceted, and an individual’s desire to act violently may not be driven by one factor in isolation.

Therefore, the BTAU should work to identify the relevant factors contributing to the motivation for violent behavior and then take steps to redirect those motives to more appropriate prosocial behavior and, ultimately, positive outcomes.

Redirecting motives requires strategic use of resources to mitigate factors of concern, such as resources to mediate interpersonal grievances, counseling to build better problem-solving strategies, mental health treatment, or other social services that can address the circumstances driving the individual’s behavior.

For example, if a BTAU determines an individual has been harassing neighbors following a land use dispute, the BTAU may be able to identify a community-based mediation resource to help reconcile the disagreement.