»The Division on the Study of Violence and Radicalization

Extremism The Earl Babbie Research Center’s Division for the Study of Violence and Radicalization at Chapman University promotes the scientific study of the causes and consequences of different types of violence with a special focus on street gangs, hate crimes, and terrorism. Our mission is to promote nonviolent, evidence-based solutions designed to mitigate the detrimental effects of these social problems. The research we conduct is aimed at improving public awareness and understanding as well as informing public policy. As part of this effort, the Division produces book-length manuscripts, scholarly journal articles, policy briefs, presentations, and provides consultation to government officials, non-governmental organizations, and journalists covering stories related to different types of violence.

Read about some of our recent research and activities!

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Recent publications, articles and resources

PublicationsOut of Hiding

Blee, Kathleen, Robert Futrell, and Pete Simi. 2024. Out of Hiding: Extremist White Supremacy and How It Can be Stopped. New York: Routledge Press. 

New edition of American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement’s Hidden Spaces of Hate published in 2015 by Pete Simi and Robert Futrell. 

  • CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of the Year, 2024. American Swastika
  • CHOICE Listed as one of the “Books for Understanding Charleston,” 2015. 
  • CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of the Year, 2010. 

 

Peer Review Scholarly Articles & Book Chapters 

  • Latif, Mehr, Kathleen Blee, Matthew DeMichele, and Pete Simi. 2025. “The Body in Extremist White Supremacism.” British Journal of Sociology. [10.1111/1468-4446.70003]. 
  • Scalco, G., Venezia, S.A., Simi, P., Cloutier, J., & Kubota, J.T. 2025. White supremacy beliefs predict explicit but not implicit biases towards perceived Arab/Middle Eastern men. Scientific Reports 15, 7292. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90813-7 
  • Simi, Pete, Gina Ligon, Seamus Highes, and Natalie Standridge. 2024. "Rising Threats to Public Officials: A Review of 10 Years of Federal Data." CTC-Sentinel 17, 5. 
  • DeMichele, Matthew, Pete Simi and Kathleen Blee. 2024. “Becoming an Ex-Extremist: Stopping the Hate and Embracing a New Identity.” British Journal of Criminology, 1-16, htps://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azae035 
  • Simi, Pete, Robert Futrell, and Adam Burtson. 2024. “How Threat Mobilizes the Resurgence and Persistence of US White Supremacist Activism: the 1980s to the Present.” Annual Review of Sociology, v. 50.
  • Blee, Kathleen, Robert Futrell, and Pete Simi. 2024. “A Constellation Approach to Understanding Extremist White Supremacy.” Mobilization 28:435-444. 
  • Latif, Mehr, Pete Simi, Kathleen Blee, and Matthew DeMichele. 2023. “Intuitive Pathways into Racist Beliefs.” Emotion and Society. 
  • Logan, Michael, Steve Windisch, and Pete Simi. 2022. “Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), Adolescent Misconduct, and Violent Extremism: A Comparison of Former Left-Wing and Right-Wing Extremists.” Terrorism and Political Violence. 
  • Steven Windisch & Pete Simi. 2022. “More than a Joke: White Supremacist Humor as a Daily Form of Resistance.” Deviant Behavior, DOI: 10.1080/01639625.2022.2048216. 
  • DeMichele, Matthew, Wesley McCann, Kathleen Blee, and Pete Simi. 2022. “Findings and Implications from a Project on White Supremacist Entry and Exit Pathways.” Perspectives in Terrorism, 16, 5: 73-81. 
  • Windisch, Steven, Pete Simi, Kathleen M. Blee, and Matthew DeMichele. 2020. “On the Permissibility of Homicidal Violence: Perspectives from Former US White Supremacists.” Perspectives in Terrorism:14(6), 148-59. 
  • Simi, Pete and Steven Windisch. 2020. “The Culture of Violent Talk: An Interpretive Approach.” Social Science, 9:120-36. 
  • Windisch, Steven, Pete Simi, Kathleen Blee, and Matthew DeMichele. 2020. “Measuring the Extent and Nature of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) among Former White Supremacists.” Terrorism and Political Violence. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2020.1767604 
  • Latif, Mehr, Kathleen Blee, Matthew DeMichele, and Pete Simi. 2020. “Do White Supremacist Women Adopt Movement Archetypes of Mother, Whore, and Fighter?” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. 
  • Simi, Pete and Steven Windisch. 2020. “Why Radicalization Fails: Barriers to Mass Casualty Terrorism.” Terrorism and Political Violence, 32(4), 831-850. 
  • Latif, Mehr, Kathy Blee, Matthew DeMichele, Pete Simi, and Shayna Alexander. 2020. “Why White Supremacist Women Become Disillusioned, and Why They Leave.” The Sociological Quarterly, 61, 3:367-88. (Winner of the Sociological Quarterly article award for 2019-2020). 
  • Bubolz, Bryan and Pete Simi. 2019. “The Problem of Overgeneralization: The Case of Mental Health Problems and US Violent White Supremacists.” American Behavioral Scientist 1-17. 
  • Simi, Pete, Steven Windisch, Daniel Harris*, and Gina Ligon. 2019. “Anger from Within: The Role of Emotions in Disengagement from Violent Extremism.” Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology 6, 3-28. 
  • Fahey, Susan and Pete Simi. 2019. “Pathways to Violent Extremism: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the US Far-Right.” Journal of Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict 12:42-66. 
  • Windisch, Steven, Pete Simi, Kathleen Blee, and Matthew DeMichele. 2018. “Understanding the Micro-Situational Dynamics of White Supremacist Violence in the United States.” Perspectives in Terrorism, 6: 23-37. 
  • Latif, Mehr, Kathy Blee, Matthew DeMichele, and Pete Simi. 2018. “How Emotional Dynamics Maintain and Destroy White Supremacist Groups.” Humanity & Society, 42, 4:480-501. 
  • Byrne, Peter, Pete Simi. 2018. On the Origins of White Nationalism. NewScientist. 34-39.
  • Windisch, Steven, Gina Ligon, and Pete Simi. 2017. “Organizational [Dis]trust: Comparing Disengagement Among Former Left-Wing and Right-Wing Violent Extremists.” Studies of Conflict & Terrorism. DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2017.1404000.
  • Simi, Pete, Kathy Blee, Matthew DeMichele, and Steven Windisch. 2017. “Addicted to Hate: Identity Residual among Former White Supremacists.” American Sociological Review 82, 6: 1167-87.
  • Blee, Kathy, Matthew DeMichele, Pete Simi, and Mehr Latif. 2017. “How Racial Violence is Provoked and Channeled.” Socio, December: 257-76.
  • Simi, Pete, KarynSporer and Bryan Bubolz. 2016. “Narratives of Childhood Adversities and Adolescent Misconduct as Precursors to Violent Extremism: A Life-Course Criminological Approach.” Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53, 4: 536-63. 
  • Simi, Pete, Robert Futrell, and Bryan Bubolz. 2016. “Parenting as Protest: Identity Alignment among White Power Activists.” The Sociological Quarterly, 57: 491-516. 
  • Windisch, Steven, Pete Simi, Gina Scott Ligon, and Hillary McNeel. 2016. “Disengagement from Ideologically-Based and Violent Organizations: A Systematic Review of the Literature.” Journal for Deradicalization, 9:1-38. 
  • Harris, Daniel, Pete Simi, and Gina Ligon. 2016. “Reporting Practices for Studies Involving Interviews with Extremists.” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 39: 602-16.

Past and Current Funding Sources

  • Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
  • National Institute of Justice
  • National Science Foundation 
  • Department of Homeland Security
  • Department of Defense 

Links to Additional Resources

Presentations

February, 2017: Simi, Pete. “Lessons from the Field: Studying Far Right Extremism.” Presented at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

March, 2017: Simi, Pete. “Hidden Spaces of Hate: Studying Far Right Extremism.” Presented at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. More information.

March 20-21, 2017: MaUS Strategic Command (STRATCOM), “Psychology of Terrorism” hosted by the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

April 2, 2018: UC Law Lecture Focuses on Terrorisum, Lone Extremists and Self-Radicalization. More information.

July 18, 2018: SOF Two-Day Symposium: The Rise of Hate, The Aspen Institute. More information.

July/August, 2018: Mother Jones. Inside the Radical, Uncomfortable Movement to Reform White Supremacists. More information.

August 7, 2018: PBS Frontline Episode. Documenting Hate: Charlottesville. More information.

Recent Media Coverage

Babbie Center in the News

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