The Role of Social Work in Preventing Violent Extremism: Issues and Prospects in Uncertain Times

In recent years, the US has experienced a dramatic increase in political violence (i.e., violent extremism) and targeted violence, which is defined as by the US Department of Homeland Security as any premeditated act of violence directed at a specific individual, group, or location(DHS, n.d.). Although acts of mass violence are relatively rare, they are extremely deadly. Between the years of 2015 to 2022, approximately 19,000 individuals were killed or injured during a mass violence event in the United States (Everytown Research & Policy, 2023). These violent acts may be understood as hate crimes or as acts intended to terrorize the population, such as mass shootings in public spaces. DHS frameworks to prevent such acts involve substantial collaboration with behavioral health professions, including social workers, at multiple phases (DHS, 2023): primary prevention through programs decreasing racism/bigotry and violent ideology; secondary prevention by alerting law enforcement of any individuals who may be preparing to engage in targeted violence and collaborating with interdisciplinary behavioral threat assessment and management teams (BTAM) that are designed to assess and intervene with radicalizing individuals before they commit acts of violence; and tertiary prevention, which involves therapeutic engagement with those who have been radicalized to violence, along with their families, and the reintegration and rehabilitation of those previously incarcerated for terrorism/violent extremist violence. Currently, there is minimal research on social work in this field (Hutson, 2021), with evidence suggesting that few social workers are prepared to engage in this kind of work. This roundtable session will start with a dialogue about the role of social work research and practice in countering violent extremism. It will review both existing research on terrorism prevention and what is known about frontline social workers preparation for prevention. The presenters will pay particular focus on the perceived reasons for the lack of research, preparedness, and willingness in engage in preventing violent extremism. Ethical issues attendant to this work will also be addressed at the start, including concerns about securitization of the profession, challenges in research methodology, state-sponsored violence, and collaborating with law enforcement agencies, including DHS, which has a history of human rights violations. The organizer will present on the state of research in preventing violent extremism and the current national policy landscape. Two presenters will address the practice concerns of behavioral health professionals and the willingness to work in this arena, based on results from a mixed methods study of behavioral health professionals in New York State. Two other presenters will address working with federal, state, and local law enforcement in behavioral threat assessment and management and the challenges and opportunities presented in Michigan. Another two presenters will address the research challenges and prospects presented in a pilot primary prevention project in Idaho. The roundtable will then conclude on the future of preventing violent extremism practice and research, research and policy prioritization of this work, ongoing ethical considerations, injecting social work perspectives in the broader preventing violent extremism landscape, and working in a hostile political environment.