Studies on Left & Right Violence

Left-wing terrorists DO carry out more attacks than conservatives
Politically Motivated Terrorist Killers

• CSIS — “Left-Wing Terrorism and Political Violence in the United States: What the Data Tells Us”
  This brief examines trends in left-wing extremist attacks and plots in the U.S. (1994–2025) and compares them to right-wing and jihadist incidents.
  https://www.csis.org/analysis/left-wing-terrorism-and-political-violence-united-states-what-data-tells-us CSIS
• “Far-left versus Far-right Fatal Violence: An Empirical Assessment of the Prevalence of Ideologically Motivated Homicides in the United States” (Celinet Duran, 2021)
  This paper assesses ideologically motivated homicides attributed to far-left vs far-right actors in the U.S. between 1990 and 2020.
  https://ccjls.scholasticahq.com/article/26973-far-left-versus-far-right-fatal-violence-an-empirical-assessment-of-the-prevalence-of-ideologically-motivated-homicides-in-the-united-states CCJLS
• “A Comparison of Political Violence by Left-Wing, Right-Wing, and Islamist Extremists (United States)”
  This comparative study explores differences in tactics, frequency, and lethality of extremist violence across ideological categories.
  https://www.start.umd.edu/publication/comparison-political-violence-left-wing-right-wing-and-islamist-extremists-united Start UMD
  (Also available via PMC: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9335287/) PMC
• PBS / NewsHour — “What data shows about political extremist violence”
  A journalistic synthesis of data showing that right-wing extremist violence is more frequent and more lethal than left-wing violence (in the U.S.).
  https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/right-wing-extremist-violence-is-more-frequent-and-deadly-than-left-wing-violence-data-shows PBS
• Cato Institute — “Politically Motivated Violence Is Rare in the United States”
  A perspective on how small a share of total murders are from ideologically motivated attacks.
  https://www.cato.org/blog/politically-motivated-violence-rare-united-states Cato Institute
• The Economist — “Is ‘radical-left’ violence really on the rise in America?”
  A data graphic / analysis evaluating the claims of increasing left-wing violence in recent years.
  https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2025/09/12/is-radical-left-violence-really-on-the-rise-in-america The Economist
• “Left-Wing Terrorism Is on the Rise” (The Atlantic, Byman & McCabe)
  An explanatory article based on the CSIS dataset, summarizing trends and context.
  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/09/charlie-kirk-left-wing-terrorism/684323/ The Atlantic
• University of Maryland Study (LaFree et al.) — Extremist Groups & Violence Disparities
  A summary of research showing that certain extremist groups are more likely to use violence than others (across ideological lines).
  https://ccjs.umd.edu/feature/umd-led-study-shows-disparities-violence-among-extremist-groups