Exploring the link between 'intimate' terrorism and mass public violence

Feminist scholars have long posited that the existence of a public/private divide functions to
depoliticise male violence against women and place it beyond the realm of state
intervention. The fact that public and private violence are conceptualised so differently also
functions to obscure any relationship that may exist between them. However, persuasive
anecdotal evidence suggests that the perpetration of domestic abuse and public terror
attacks may in fact be linked: Out of seven 2017 UK attackers, for instance, four were known
to have experienced or perpetrated domestic abuse; A brief survey of other attacks -
including Nice, the Boston Marathon, Pulse Nightclub, Lindt Café and Charlie Hebdo -
indicates a pattern. Despite this evidence, no systematic research exists to investigate a
potential link between such acts of mass public violence and domestic abuse. Instead, much
analysis rests on the heavily racialised 'terrorism' paradigm, which obscures similarities
between 'terroristic' behaviours and myriad other forms of violence that are commonplace
within patriarchal structures. In obscuring these similarities, such analysis cannot account
for how 'public' and 'private' violence intersect. Drawing on the approach of narrative
criminologists such as Lois Presser, Shadd Maruna and Sveinung Sandberg, this research will
address that gap in analysis. Using in-depth case studies and subject-led interviews, it will
investigate what the relationship between 'private' and 'public' violence might be from the
perspective of those who perpetrate both by exploring the violent histories of so-called
'Islamist' offenders, far-right offenders and those who have committed gang violence. In
doing so, it will seek to understand the worldviews behind these perpetrators' criminogenic
decisions and their own understanding of the escalation of their violence into the public
sphere. By better understanding perpetrators' perspectives, we can potentially learn crucial
lessons in how to prevent further violence, with significant implications for questions of
national security and for the urgency of concerted action to address domestic abuse.