A report released in January 2010, Anti-terror lessons of Muslim-Americans, cites some compelling statistics to make the case that the focus on Muslims and violence is overblown: since 9/11, a total of 139 American Muslims have been arrested or convicted of terrorism charges involving violence. During that same period, 136,000 murders have been committed in the United States.

In February 2011, the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security released a report by the University of North Carolina’s Charles Kurzman, Muslim-American Terrorism Since 9/11: An Accounting. It concludes: “Muslim-American terrorism makes news. Out of the thousands of acts of violence that occur in the United States each year, an efficient system of government prosecution and media coverage brings Muslim-American terrorism suspects to national attention, creating the impression – perhaps unintentionally – that Muslim-American terrorism is more prevalent than it really is.”