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	More than 100 hate-crime murders linked to single website, report finds by Southern Poverty Law Center, agencies   Sept. 2014   Confronting Europe’s problem with far-right violence, by Vidhya Ramalingam for The FREE Initiative   This summer, three years passed since the horrific terrorist attack by a far-right extremist who took the lives of 77 people and injured hundreds in Norway on 22 July 2011. Though news agencies often jump to commemorate anniversaries of major acts of violence in Europe, this one was hard to find in the news this year. The focus of western European attention over the past several months has – rightly so – been on Islamist extremism, worries about individuals traveling to fight in Syria and Iraq, and other threats to national security.   Far-right extremism is often relegated to a second tier security threat due to the tendency to see these groups as irrelevant to inquiries into national security and terrorism. Though in most European countries, it is fair to say that the far right poses less of a ‘terrorist threat’ than other forms of extremism, this is a simplistic way of conceptualising the role and impact of far-right violence on Europe. There are several reasons to be wary of this.   First, while it is high-profile and high impact events that hit the headlines, the bulk of the threat posed by the far right is felt through smaller-scale localised harassment, intimidation and bullying by extremists targeting minority communities. These kinds of incidences often go undetected, and they are hard to quantify – but they leave communities living in fear.   Second, the problem with far-right violence is that it is inextricably intertwined with public and political debates on immigration and integration, national identity, and national security. Far-right extremists may even be riding on narratives that are actually accepted by large sections of the mainstream population, or ideologies advocated by mainstream politicians. These groups and individuals are often reactionary, playing off current affairs and traumatic events to mobilise other supporters around hateful messages. Mainstreamed narratives are thus being used to justify terrorism and violence.   Third, estimated figures of participation in movements are not often solid indicators of the threat. Even in countries where intelligence reports minimal numbers, far-right extremism may simply be a ‘hidden’ phenomenon, less visible due to a strong penal code and social stigma against these groups, and increasingly active online. There is also a high level of chatter in the online space, and little is known about the relationship between talk and action. Worryingly, Europol confirms that many members of the extreme right-wing scene have been found in possession of a significant amount of firearms, ammunition or explosives, and there are numerous examples, from the Netherlands to Slovakia, of far-right groups providing training in combat techniques and target practice.   In some ways, despite the elusive, ‘hidden’ nature that makes them difficult to trace, their dependence on and manipulation of current affairs and grievances should actually make their movements easy to predict. We tend not to be front-footed in dealing with far-right violence. We focus far too much on expressing concern about ‘the problem’ rather than teaching ourselves about – or indeed carrying out – ‘the solutions.’ But we know enough about the problem to act.   There are thousands of front-line professionals across Europe who come face-to-face with this issue on a regular basis, whether it is those working specifically on countering violent extremism, or those who encounter the far right as part of their daily responsibilities policing communities or educating young people. They often develop innovative solutions to these challenges, though these rarely make headlines or send ripples beyond the community immediately affected. This initiative aims to change this.   The FREE Initiative is not your standard ‘zero tolerance’ anti-racism initiative. Our message is new. All too often those fighting the good fight simply look down on those who espouse far-right ideologies, dismissing them as ‘racists’ or ‘Nazis.’ This punitive approach is often preferred when dealing with far-right extremists in our communities. However, ignoring them or dismissing them will not make them go away. In fact, time and time again we see that this approach can help push individuals further down the path of radicalisation, or push them underground to operate undetected.   At the heart of efforts to tackle the far right must be initiatives to have the difficult conversations with those in or on the peripheries of movements, engaging with them as people and working to help them change their behaviour and their attitudes. The FREE Initiative showcases the stories of those who are on the streets having the hard conversations with far-right activists, those who have rid entire towns of neo-Nazi gangs, and those who have pushed hundreds of violent extremists to leave the scene. It includes survivors of far-right violence, who share their stories to prevent attacks like this from happening again, and former extremists who share their stories to prevent others from taking the paths they once did.   April 2014   People charged with the murders of almost 100 people can be linked to a single far-right website, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).   The White Nationalist web forum Stormfront.org says it promotes values of “the embattled white minority,” and its users include Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in a 2011 massacre in Norway, and Wade Michael Page, who shot and killed six people at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in 2012.   After a two-year investigation, the SPLC said that since Stormfront became one of the first hate sites on the internet in 1995, its registered users have been disproportionately responsible for major killings. The report was released a month early after white supremacist Frazier Glenn Miller, also known as Frazier Glenn Cross, was accused of killing three people at a Jewish center in Kansas City on Sunday.   “We know that the people who are going to commit the kinds of crimes, like the kinds of crimes Miller committed last weekend, this is where they live,” said Heidi Beirich, report author and a director at the SPLC’s Intelligence Project. The report, released on Thursday, calls Stormfront the “largest hate site in the world” and “a magnet and breeding ground for the deadly and deranged.”   Of the site’s more than 286,000 users, only a small sliver are highly active, the report found, with fewer than 1,800 people logging in each day. While the SPLC only identified 10 murderers out of this large user base, researchers think the murderers’ connection to the site is important because it shows how the website offers a community for people who commit these crimes.   “It’s pretty clear that websites like Stormfront are breeding grounds for people who are just enraged at their situation, it’s there that people find the reasons their lives aren’t as they had hoped and Stormfront helps them find the enemy that is standing in their way – whether it be Jews, African Americans, immigrants and so on,” said Beirich. “Unfortunately it’s not very surprising that people who live in this kind of stew of violent racism eventually pick up a gun and do something about it at some point.”   Stormfront proudly declares that “every month is white history month” at the top of its site and forum discussions concern things such as the latest news stories, ideology, poetry and creative writing.   “The fact of the matter is that more people have been killed domestically by radical right extremists than Islamic extremists since 9/11 and where you find a lot of these people is on these sites,” said Beirich.   SPLC also identified 10 characteristics shared by killers who were active online including unemployment, posting on more than one hate website, and sustained activity on these sites.   The SPLC’s report said hate killings skyrocketed after Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009.   “We have seen and documented at the SPLC an enormous growth of groups on the radical right, particularly in the last five years,” said Mark Potok, the report’s editor and a senior fellow on the Intelligence Project. “That growth quite clearly seems to be driven by the appearance of Barack Obama on the political scene in the fall of 2008 and of course his subsequent election.”   Potok noted that these hate sites are protected by first amendment rights because they don’t contain concrete plots to commit crimes. He said that law enforcement official unquestionably pay attention to these sites, but criticized how much analysis is done on users by federal authorities.   “We feel pretty strongly that the Department of Homeland Security, which is the lead agency in this country for developing intelligence about these groups and individuals, has more or less taken its eye off the ball in the sense that since 2009 the department seems more focused on Jihadists terrorism,” Potok said.   http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-report-users-of-leading-white-supremacist-web-forum-responsible-for-many-dead
	Some 437,000 people murdered worldwide in 2012, according to new UNODC study by Jean-Luc Lemahieu UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)   April 2013   Almost half a million people (437,000) across the world lost their lives in 2012 as a result of intentional homicide, according to a new study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).   Launching the Global Study on Homicide 2013, Jean-Luc Lemahieu, Director for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs, said: "Too many lives are being tragically cut short, too many families and communities left shattered. There is an urgent need to understand how violent crime is plaguing countries around the world, particularly affecting young men but also taking a heavy toll on women."   Globally, some 80 per cent of homicide victims and 95 per cent of perpetrators are men. Almost 15 per cent of all homicides stem from domestic violence (63,600). However, the overwhelming majority - almost 70 per cent - of domestic violence fatalities are women (43,600).   "Home can be the most dangerous place for a woman," said Mr. Lemahieu. "It is particularly heartbreaking when those who should be protecting their loved ones are the very people responsible for their murder."   Over half of all homicide victims are under 30 years of age, with children under the age of 15 accounting for just over 8 per cent of all homicides (36,000), the Study highlighted.   The regional picture   Almost 750 million people live in countries with the highest homicide rates in the world - namely the Americas and Africa - meaning that almost half of all homicide occurs in countries that are home to just 11 per cent of the earth''s population.   At the opposite end of the spectrum, 3 billion people - mainly in Europe, Asia and Oceania- live in countries where homicide rates are relatively low.   The global average murder rate stands at 6.2 per 100,000 population, but Southern Africa and Central America recorded more than four times that number (30 and 26 victims per 100,000 population respectively), the highest in the world. Meanwhile, with rates some five times lower than the global average, East Asia, Southern Europe and Western Europe recorded the lowest homicide levels in 2012.   Worryingly, homicide levels in North Africa, East Africa and parts of South Asia are rising amid social and political instability. In an encouraging trend, South Africa, which has consistently high rates of homicide, saw the homicide rate halve from 64.5 per 100,000 in 1995 to 31.0 per 100,000 in 2012.   Homicides linked to gangs and organized criminal groups accounted for 30 per cent of all homicides in the Americas compared to below 1 per cent in Asia, Europe and Oceania. While surges in homicide are often linked to this type of violence, the Americas saw homicide levels five to eight times higher than Europe and Asia since the 1950s.   The gender bias   Globally, the male homicide rate is almost four times higher than for females (9.7 versus 2.7 per 100,000) and is highest in the Americas (29.3 per 100,000 males), where it is almost seven times higher than in Asia, Europe and Oceania (all under 4.5 per 100,000 males). In particular, the homicide rate for male victims aged 15-29 in South and Central America is over four times the global average rate for that age group. More than 1 in 7 of all homicide victims globally is a young male aged 15-29 in the Americas.   While men are mostly killed by someone they may not know, almost half of all female victims are killed by those closest to them. In Asia, Europe and Oceania the share of victims from domestic violence is particularly important. In all these regions, the majority of female homicide victims are killed at the hands of their intimate partners/family members (in Asia and Europe, 55 per cent, and in Oceania, 73 per cent). For example, in Asia, 19,700 women were killed by their intimate partners or family members in 2012. When only looking at intimate partner violence, the overwhelming majority of homicide victims are women (79 per cent in Europe).   The causes of homicide   The consumption of alcohol and/or illicit drugs increases the risk of perpetrating homicide. In some countries, over half of homicide offenders acted under the influence of alcohol. Although the effects of illicit drugs are less well documented, cocaine and amphetamine-type stimulants have been associated with violent behaviour and homicide.   http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press/releases/2014/April/some-437000-people-murdered-worldwide-in-2012-according-to-new-unodc-study.html
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