Terrorism: As defined on the FBI's website, terrorism involves violent acts that violate the law and attempt to intimidate or coerce the population. Terrorism’s aim is to “influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.”
International terrorism specifically occurs outside the U.S. or transcends national boundaries. Domestic terrorism occurs primarily within the U.S.
Hate crimes: These are defined by the FBI as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”
Terrorism, by the numbers: Most attacks and most deaths occur outside the United States. In 2014, “78 percent of all deaths and 57 percent of all attacks occurred in just five countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria,” according to the Global Terrorism Index, 2015, by the Institute for Economics and Peace, a nonprofit. That year, 32,685 people died worldwide in terrorist attacks.
Terrorism, the U.S. and allies: Terrorist attacks in the U.S. get intense press coverage,but they are a small percentage of the total. "In 2014 there were 37 deaths in the 38 countries categorized as the West. This constitutes 0.11 per cent of total deaths from terrorism in 2014. In the 15 years between 2000 and 2014 there were 3,659 deaths from terrorism in the West.” the report said. (The report specifically defines "Western" countries as Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia. Among attacks in the West, nearly three-fourths were conducted by lone wolf terrorists.)Related:
Rebel flag may go, but guns stay
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