Assessment procedures in anonymously written threats of harm and violence

Anonymously written threats constitute a special form of worrying behavior, in which the author of a threat decides to hide their identity. Importantly, anonymous threats are an increasingly common issue exacerbated by online communication. Anonymity raises additional challenges for threat assessors, but little is known about how practitioners approach such cases. Although a large body of research exists concerning assessment procedures of non-anonymous cases, little is known about how experts approach a case based merely on communications and in the absence of detailed contextual information. Therefore, the current study serves to gain a better picture of the assessment procedures associated with anonymous threatening communications (ATCs). Extensive semi-structured interviews were conducted with expert threat assessors, in which participants were asked about their general approach to ATCs, as well as their thoughts regarding a real-life case. Responses were qualitatively coded, in order to reveal common themes and divergent approaches. Based on the results obtained, we formulate eight recommendations for the furtherance of the field of anonymous threat assessment.