In many cases of threat, communication from the perpetrator is often the only piece of information available against the offender and for this reason, researchers are now trying to figure out if communication can reveal offender's psycho-pathy and the degree to which he/she can be dangerous to the target. Our research shows that some physiological reactions during the threat giving incident would also say a great deal about escalation or possible de-escalation. A person who stays calm during threat-giving is more capable of actually carrying out a violent action or whatever he threatens to do compare to someone who shouts and looks nervous. The more a person shouts and expresses anger; the lower is the risk of escalation.
However this is not enough to make a final conclusion because there are other factors impacting the decision. The person being threatened can also play a role in diffusing the situation by responding kindly or adequately in whatever is the best possible manner. Some people would respond to a threat with a threat of their own and that can also work provided the person takes the target seriously and considers him or...
Whether the threat would escalate to violence or not is determined also by how the violent action would actually benefit the offender. If it is felt that offender would be better off carrying out a violent act and hence acting on his threat, there is likelihood that he would make an attempt.
It was found that while offenders were likely to leave threatening communication in cases where private or public targets are involved but the method and channel of the communication would be different. In the case of public targets, communication would usually be indirect compared to private targets. Hence we need to understand that while threatening communication may lead to violent actions, there are some other factors that must be studies such as how public or private the target is, what is the channel of communication, how well the offender knows the victim etc.
James et al. 2010
http://www.positiveconflicts.com/articles/escalation.php
