NCJ Number
184091
Journal
Criminal Justice Policy Review Volume: 10 Issue: 3 Dated: 1999 Pages: 319-341
Editor(s)
Nanci Koser Wilson
Date Published
1999
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This paper explores the impact of domestic terrorism on the public agenda, specifically examining the extent to which the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing required assistance or "accompaniment" to capture the attention of lawmakers.
Abstract
Accompaniment was defined in terms of government and popular concerns for an issue prior to a focusing event. Content analysis of the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, the New York Times Index, the Washington Post Index, and the Congressional Quarterly, as measures of prior congressional, presidential, and public interest, suggested that domestic terrorism did not require accompaniment to achieve agenda status. Instead, unique focusing event characteristics--the violent, sudden, novel, and criminal nature of the explosion--were responsible. The Oklahoma City bombing had focusing event characteristics with no parallel in the agenda-setting literature. 26 references, 13 notes, and 4 figures