28 October 1998: Link to report: http://jya.com/ncj170612.htm

23 October 1998
Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=117401&TICK=OJP&STORY=/www/story/08-05-1998/0000726476&EDATE=Aug+5,+1998

> ### U.S. Department of Justice

> ## Office of Justice Programs

> # NEWS

> New Report Outlines Shared Traits of Potential Assassins

>                    Federal Study Compiled to Assist Law Enforcement

>         WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- While there is no specific profile of a
>     would-be assassin, a new Justice Department report indicates many of those who
>     have committed or attempted to carry out such crimes share certain behaviors.
>     The National Institute of Justice-funded study, conducted by the U.S. Secret
>     Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, was compiled to aid law enforcement
>     agencies in identifying and assessing those who could pose a threat to public
>     figures before that individual comes within lethal range of a target.
>         The report, "Protective Intelligence and Threat Assessment
>     Investigations," is based on a study of all persons who have attacked or posed
>     real threats to public officials or figures in the United States in the last
>     50 years.  The report found that assassinations and attacks on public figures
>     are not necessarily prompted by mental illness, but are the products of
>     understandable and often discernible processes of thinking.  It also found
>     that most people who attack others perceive the attack as the means to an end
>     or a way to solve a problem, and an individual's motives and selection of a
>     target are directly connected.
>         "Recent events in our nation's Capitol underscore the importance of this
>     report," said Jeremy Travis, Director of the National Institute of Justice.
>     "This can be a most useful tool at possibly preventing such future criminal
>     acts."
>         The report, which was designed to learn about pre-attack behaviors of
>     persons who target prominent public officials and figures, found that few
>     assassinations in the United States -- even those  targeting major political
>     figures -- have had purely political motives.  The study's examination of more
>     than 80 individuals, who either attacked or got within near-lethal range of a
>     public figure target, identified eight major motives.  They are:

>         * To achieve notoriety or fame.
>         * To bring attention to a personal or public problem.
>         * To avenge a perceived wrong; to retaliate for a perceived injury.
>         * To end personal pain; to be removed from society; to be killed.
>         * To save the country or the world; to fix a world problem.
>         * To develop a special relationship with the target.
>         * To make money.
>         * To bring about political change.

>         The report outlines how law enforcement agencies can establish programs
>     and systems to identify and prevent persons with the means and interest to
>     attack a protected person.  The guide may also assist law enforcement and
>     security agencies responsible for investigating and preventing other kinds of
>     targeted violence, such as stalking, domestic violence or workplace violence.
>     The report takes law enforcement agencies through the entire threat assessment
>     process, from designing a protective intelligence program to investigating
>     suspicious persons to closing a case.
>         Protective intelligence programs are based on the idea that the risk of
>     violence is minimized if persons with the interest, capacity and willingness
>     to mount an attack can be identified and rendered harmless before they
>     approach a protected person.
>         To obtain a copy of "Protective Intelligence and Threat Assessment
>     Investigations" (NCJ 170612, 59 pp.), contact the National Criminal Justice
>     Reference Service at 800-851-3420.  To download a copy or to obtain additional
>     information about Office of Justice Programs (OJP) and its programs, visit
>     OJP's web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov.
>         * OJP and its component agencies' press releases are available for use
>     without restriction.
>         NIJ98186

>     SOURCE  National Institute of Justice