James M. Silver

Associate Professor of the Practice, Criminal Justice

Associate Professor of the Practice James Silver has an extensive background in law, criminal justice, and academia. As a lawyer, he practiced civil litigation with a leading global law firm before joining the United States Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., where he served as an assistant United States attorney, prosecuting criminal cases and appeals. He has also practiced as a criminal defense attorney in Massachusetts, defending clients both at trial and on appeal. Dr. Silver was a senior research associate for the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a research fellow with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Va. Silver’s teaching experience extends back to 1996, with stints at Fisher College, Bristol Community College, UMass Lowell, and most recently, Worcester State University, where he was associate professor in the department of criminal justice. Silver is author of The Crime Junkie’s Guide to Criminal Law (Westport: Greenwood, Praeger, 2007) and coauthor of Almost a Psychopath (Center City: Hazelden, 2012), which was the 2012 Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin GOLD Award Winner in the category of Psychology. He has published research in journals such as Criminology and Public Policy, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Aggression and Violent Behavior, Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, and Terrorism and Political Violence. Silver is a member of the Homicide Research Working Group, the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, and the American Society of Criminology.

Research Interests

Courses

Scholarly Work

Published Academic Papers

Silver, J., and Craun, S. “Criminal histories of convicted federal threat offenders.” Journal of Threat Assessment and Management 10, no. 1 (2023): 32–41.

Silver, J., and Silva, J. R. “A sequence analysis of the behaviors and experiences of the deadliest public mass shooters.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 37, no. 23–24 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605221078818

Clemmow, C., Gill, P., Bouhana, N., Silver, J., and Horgan, J. “Disaggregating Lone-actor Grievance-fuelled Violence: Comparing Lone-actor Terrorists and Mass Murderers.” Terrorism and Political Violence 34, no. 3 (2022): 558–584.

Silver, J., Craun, S., Wyman, J., and Simons, A. “A coproduction research model between academia and law enforcement responsible for investigating threats.” Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism 16, no. 1 (2021): 32–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/18335330.2021.1880018

Lankford, A., Silver, J., and Cox, J. “An Epidemiological analysis of public mass shooters: Quantifying key differences between perpetrators and the general population, homicide offenders, and suicide decedents.” Journal of Threat Assessment and Management 8, no. 4 (2021): 125–144. https://doi.org/10.1037/tam0000166

Gill, P., Silver, J., Horgan, J., Corner, E., and Bouhana, N. (2021). “Similar crimes, similar behaviors: Comparing lone-actor terrorists and public mass murderers. Journal of Forensic Sciences 66, no. 5 (2021):1797–1804. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14793

Craun, S. W., Gibson, K. A., Ford, A. G., Solik, K., and Silver, J. “(In) action: Variation in bystander responses between persons of concern and active shooters.” Journal of Threat Assessment and Management 7, no. 1–2 (2020): 113.

Gibson, K. A., Craun, S. W., Ford, A. G., Solik, K., and Silver, J. “Possible attackers? A comparison between the behaviors and stressors of persons of concern and active shooters.” Journal of Threat Assessment and Management 7, no. 1–2 (2020): 1–12.

“Space between concern and crime: Two recommendations to encourage use of the threat assessment model and promote bystander reporting.” Criminology and Public Policy 19, no. 1 (2020): 253–270.

Lankford, A., and Silver, J. “Why have public mass shootings become more deadly? Assessing how perpetrators’ motives and methods have changed over time.” Criminology and Public Policy 19, no. 1 (2020): 37–60.

Silver, J., Horgan, J., and Gill, P. “Shared struggles? Cumulative strain theory and public mass murderers from 1990 to 2014.” Homicide Studies 23, no. 1 (2019): 64–84.

Silver, J., Simons, A., and Craun, S. “A Study of the Pre-Attack Behaviors of Active Shooters in the United States Between 2000–2013.” Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC (2018).

Silver, J., Fisher, W., and Horgan, J. “Public mass murderers and federal mental health background checks for firearm purchases.” Law and Policy 40, no. 2 (2018): 133–147.

Silver, J., Gill, P., and Horgan, J. “Foreshadowing targeted violence: Assessing leakage of intent by public mass murderers.” Aggression and Violent Behavior vol. 38 (2018): 94–100.

Gill, P., Horgan, J., Corner, E., and Silver, J. “Risk factors and lone actor violent events: The problems of low base rates and long observational periods.” Journal of Threat Assessment and Management 3, no. 3–4 (2017): 165–173.

Gill, P., Silver, J., Horgan, J. and Corner, E. “Shooting alone: The pre-attack experiences and behaviors of U.S. solo mass murderers.” Journal of Forensic Sciences 62, no. 3 (2017): 710–714.

Horgan, G., Gill, P., Bouhana, N., Silver, J., and Corner, E. “Across the universe? A comparative analysis of violent behavior and radicalization across three offender types with implications for criminal justice training and education.” U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (2016).

Silver, J., Fisher, W. H., and Silver, E. (2015), Preventing persons affected by serious mental illnesses from obtaining firearms: The evolution of law, policy, and practice in Massachusetts. Behavioral Science and the Law vol. 33 (2015): 279–289.

Academic Presentations

Invited speaker. Congressional Briefing on Mass Violence, Senate Dirksen Office Building, Washington, DC, September 2019.

“The Important Differences Between Risk Assessment and Threat Assessment.” American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine, the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, September 2019.

“Space Between Concern and Crime: Two Suggestions for Promoting the Use of Threat Assessment and Encouraging Bystander Reporting.” National Science Foundation-sponsored conference on Mass Violence, George Mason University, Arlington, Va., April 11-12, 2019.

Co-presenter with FBI Supervisory Special Agent Andre Simons. “Pre-attack Behaviors of Active Shooters in the U.S. between 2000 and 2013.” 28th Annual Threat Management Conference, Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Anaheim, Calif., August 2018.

Invited Subject Matter Expert. “Panel Review: Assessing the Motivations of Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas Shooter.” FBI, Behavioral Analysis Unit, National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, FBI Academy, Quantico Virginia, February 27–March 1, 2018.

Invited Subject Matter Expert. “Identifying, Assessing, and Managing the Threat of Targeted Attacks.” Federal Bureau of Investigation, Behavioral Analysis Unit, National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, University of Virginia, July 2015.

“Criminal Specialization: Lone Actor Terrorists and Mass Murderers.” American Society of Criminology, Washington, DC, November 19, 2015.

“Lone Actor Terrorism and Mass Murderers.” American Society of Criminology, San Francisco, Calif., November 20, 2014.

“The Wide-Angle Lens: Taking a Broad View of Lone-Actor Offender Development and Behaviors.” Shaping Applied Research on Lone Actor Terrorism Workshop, London, England, October 20, 2014.

Co-presenter with Dr. Paul Gill. “Different Crimes, Different Offenders? Comparing Lone-Actor Terrorists and Public Mass Casualty Offenders.” Society for Terrorism Research 8th International Conference, Boston, Mass., September 2014.

Books

Schouten, R., and Silver, J. Almost a Psychopath (Center City: Hazelden, 2012).

The Crime Junkie’s Guide to Criminal Law (Westport: Greenwood, Praeger, 2007).

Interviews

New York Times, August 2019.

Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), August 2019.

Radio Boston (WBUR Boston), August 2019.

Wall Street Journal, July 2018.

Washington Post, June 2018

Mother Jones, June 2018.

Black Enterprise Magazine, August 2012.

Talk of the Nation (NPR), July 2012.

International Business Times, July 2012.

Christian Science Monitor, July 2012.

Morning Edition (NPR), July 2012.

Boston Magazine, July 2012.

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