title: Lone-Actor Terrorist Target Choice.
abstract: Lone-actor terrorist attacks have risen to the forefront of the public's consciousness in the past few years. Some of these attacks were conducted against public officials. The rise of hard-to-detect, low-tech attacks may lead to more public officials being targeted. This paper explores whether different behavioral traits are apparent within a sample of lone-actor terrorists who plotted against high-value targets (including public officials) than within a sample of lone actors who plotted against members of the public. Utilizing a unique dataset of 111 lone-actor terrorists, we test a series of hypotheses related to attack capability and operational security. The results indicate that very little differentiates those who attack high-value targets from those who attack members of the public. We conclude with a series of illustrations to theorize why this may be the case. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Attn: Ms. Emily Corner, Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London, 35 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EZ, U.K.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.affiliation: Attn: Ms. Emily Corner, Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London, 35 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EZ, U.K.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Corner
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D000066479:Criminal Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012449:Safety; D012919:Social Behavior; D023481:Terrorism / Q000523:psychology*; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology*