Muslim-American Involvement with Violent Extremism

This is the latest annual report on Muslim-American terrorism suspects and perpetrators produced by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. Muslim-American Involvement with Violent Extremism presents quantitative information about incidences of violent acts committed by Muslim-American extremists and then places those numbers within the larger context of violent crime in the United States. For example, the author notes that Muslim-American extremists have caused 140 fatalities since 9/11, but in that same period of time there have been 260,000 murders. Just in 2017, 267 people were killed in mass shootings, almost double the number killed by Muslim-American extremists in sixteen years. In fact, the report notes that the number of attacks by Muslim-American extremists actually decreased in 2017, which runs counter to suggestions that it would go up in the first year of the Trump Administration. Overall, the author suggests that the Trump Administration's policies with regard to counter-terrorism policy demonstrate more continuity with those of the Bush and Obama administration than a significant change in direction. However, the author asserts that President Trump's rhetoric about the threat of terrorism is exacerbating an existing problem of misperception of risk - that is, the fear of Muslim American extremist violence is out of proportion to actual rates of occurrence. (Eric Jacobson, Montclair State University)

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