Social Learning and Social Control in the Off- and Online Pathways to Hate Crime and Terrorist Violence

Although recent years have seen a great increase in the study of hate crime and terrorism, there is limited research to date that explores connections between hate crime and terrorism. This study uses a qualitative case-study method to explore the competing criminological theories of social learning and social control to investigate their utility in explaining radicalization among hate and terrorist violent extremists. Our analysis demonstrates important similarities and differences across ideology and offender types in their career pathways. We find support for the use of an integrated social control–social learning model to explain radicalization and the commission of extremist violence.