START has launched a new data resource on violence in the United States. The Terrorism and Targeted Violence (T2V) project, funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (award #24STFRG000190100), seeks to provide the homeland security community with data and analysis on violent events occurring in the United States and its territories that have a significant impact on public safety, the security of critical infrastructure, and access to vital community services.
“The T2V data fill a critical need for homeland security professionals. Policymakers, law enforcement, school administrators, violence prevention practitioners and more now have comprehensive data upon which to build an evidence-based response to targeted violence in U.S. communities,” explains project Principal Investigator (PI) Michael Jensen.
The data have already begun to produce novel insights about the scope and nature of targeted violence in U.S. communities. For instance, according to the T2V data, there is an average of nearly three terrorism and targeted violence incidents in the United States per day. From January 1, 2023, through October 31, 2024, these incidents were responsible for 368 total deaths (298 victims and 70 perpetrators) and 620 non-lethal injuries (586 victims and 34 perpetrators). Moreover, these incidents are widespread across U.S. states and territories, impacting 843 unique cities, towns, and counties.
Troublingly, a majority of T2V incidents (52.8%) resulted in successful attacks, which are cases in which the perpetrator(s) were able to deploy their weapons, even if they did not cause casualties. While a sizable proportion of incidents are foiled by law enforcement before an attack can be attempted (42.9%), only a small number of attack attempts fail (4.3%). Just two types of targeted violence in the T2V data, terrorism and school-based targeted violence, are more likely to be foiled or fail than succeed: incidents ranging from premeditated hate crimes to public mass violence will, on average, result in a perpetrator successfully deploying a weapon.
Firearms are by far the most common weapon type in the T2V data, being used in (or intended to be used in) 956 (58.9%) of incidents. Attacks that deployed firearms are responsible for 261 victim fatalities, 352 victim injuries, and an average of 1.82 total casualties (including perpetrators) per successful incident. While a rarer weapon type, vehicles have an average per incident casualty rate of 1.78, which is very similar to firearm incidents. Both firearms and vehicles are widely available in the United States, underscoring the risk these highly accessible objects pose when used for targeted violence.
The T2V dashboard currently includes data on terrorism and targeted violence incidents in the United States from January 1, 2023, through October 31, 2024. Users can explore details about more than 1,600 events, including terrorism incidents, premeditated hate crimes, school-based targeted violence, workplace targeted violence, public mass violence, and other forms of targeted violence.
The data dashboard will be routinely updated as additional preliminary data becomes available. Additionally, in the coming months, the research team will publish more expansive data on the T2V website to allow for more in-depth analysis. The website will also serve as a repository for short- and long-form analyses of the data.