Tiana Gaudette Wins ASC Division on Terrorism & Bias Crimes Award

October 15, 2024

Photo of Tiana Gaudette, Doctoral Student in the School of Criminal JusticeTiana Gaudette, Doctoral Student in the School of Criminal Justice, has received the 2024 Student Paper Award from the American Society of Criminology (ASC) Division on Terrorism & Bias Crimes. Gaudette received the award for her upcoming article “Pathways Into the Radical Animal Rights Movement.”

 

The article explores animal rights extremists, or those who seek to resolve all perceived cruelty, harm, or exploitation of animals. The article uses a multiple case study design to examine open-source information on four animal rights extremists who committed high-profile crimes such as arson, firebombing, raids, and more on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front. The findings suggest that self-uncertainty plays a key role in motivating individuals to identify with extremist groups, whose methods are perceived to be more effective than other approaches in achieving positively valued goals.

Discussing the paper, Gaudette says “It is such an honor to receive this award from the Division on Terrorism & Bias Crimes. I am very grateful to Dr. Merry Morash, Dr. Steven Chermak, and Dr. Joshua Freilich for their guidance and valuable feedback on this project.”

Congratulations Tiana, this is well earned!

 

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Tiana Gaudette is a PhD student in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University and a Research Associate at the International CyberCrime Research Centre at Simon Fraser University. She is the project manager for The American School Shooting Study, an NIJ-funded study led by Dr. Steven Chermak (MSU), Dr. Joshua Freilich (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY), and Dr. Brent Klein (University of South Carolina). She also serves as the International Student Representative for the MSU School of Criminal Justice Graduate Student Association as well as a Student Member for the American Society of Criminology Division on Terrorism and Bias Crimes. Tiana’s research interests include targeted violence, school shootings, violent extremism, and domestic terrorism. Her work has been published in Crime & Delinquency, New Media & Society, Terrorism and Political Violence, as well as in several edited book collections. Tiana received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Criminology from Simon Fraser University.