The Big Q: What are the common characteristics of violent extremists? August 5, 2019

Do violent extremists have common characteristics and backgrounds? Can we predict who among them will become violent? Patrick James is project manager for Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) at the University of Maryland. The PIRUS dataset contains de-identified, individual-level information on the backgrounds, attributes, and radicalisation processes of nearly 1500 violent and non-violent extremists who adhere to far-right, far-left, or single issue ideologies in the United States, covering the years 1948 to 2013. Maria Armoudian spoke to James about the project and the characteristics that lead to violent extremism.

The Big Q website: www.thebigq.org