Lone‐actor Terrorism and Impulsivity

Meloy, J. Reid; Pollard, Jeffrey W.

doi:10.1111/1556-4029.13500

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…In the past ten years there have also been cases with an Islamist background combining elements of rampage shootings and terrorist attacks. Examples of such incidents in Germany would include the attacks at Frankfurt Airport in 2011 (Böckler, Hoffmann, & Zick, 2015), Würzburg (Meloy & Pollard, 2017), and Ansbach in 2016 (Eddy, 2016). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Same but Different? Developmental Pathways to Demonstrative Targeted Attacks — Qualitative Case Analyses of Adolescent and Young Adult Perpetrators of Targeted School Attacks and Jihadi Terrorist Attacks in Germany

Böckler¹,

Leuschner

Zick

et al. 2018

DEV

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Analysis of incidents over the past ten years in Germany reveals that the boundaries between targeted attacks in schools and terrorist attacks are starting to blur. Böckler, Leuschner, Roth, Zick, and Scheithauer (2018) recently presented a set of hypotheses about similarities between the developmental pathways of school attackers and lone actor terrorists. To date there is only a small body of empirical research comparing these two forms of targeted violence in depth. In order to fill this gap, this article presents findings from a qualitative analysis of prosecution files comparing the developmental pathways of German school attackers (N = 7; age range: 13 to 23) and Jihadi attackers (N = 7; age range: 21 to 28 years) who committed their attacks between 2000 and 2013. Using theoretical coding and constant case comparison, the contribution shows that the two phenomena have overlaps in which developmental processes and social mechanisms are similar. Both school attackers and Jihadi attackers frame their act of violence using cultural scripts and perform the attack on a public stage where victims are attacked not on the basis of personal conflicts but because of their symbolic meaning. Taking into account the similarities in the perpetrators’ developmental pathways, the authors propose that it might be more fruitful from an operational perspective to discuss severe target school violence and terrorist attacks under a common concept of demonstrative violence than to artificially assign them to exclusive classes of violence.

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confidence: 99%

Same but Different? Developmental Pathways to Demonstrative Targeted Attacks — Qualitative Case Analyses of Adolescent and Young Adult Perpetrators of Targeted School Attacks and Jihadi Terrorist Attacks in Germany

Böckler¹,

Leuschner

Zick

et al. 2018

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“…A comorbidity of impulsivity, violence, and psychiatric disorder is widely reported (Bjørkly, ; Chamorro et al., ). Meloy and Pollard (, p. 1) also discussed the role of impulsivity in lone‐actor terrorism, where they noted the “pathway became a runway” as impulsivity seemed to prompt an irrational, premature attack despite careful planning and preparation in several case studies. Therefore, this style of interaction may pose a different challenge to threat assessment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing person‐exposure patterns in lone‐actor terrorism

Clemmow

Marchment

Gill

2019

Criminology & Public Policy

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Research Summary:The lone-actor terrorist population can be extremely heterogeneous and difficult to detect. Intelligence is vital to countering this threat. We devise a typology of person-exposure patterns (PEPs) that could serve as a framework for intelligence gathering and threat assessment. We use cluster analysis and a risk analysis framework (RAF) to identify relations among three components: propensity, situation, and network.The results of the analysis reveal four PEPs: solitary, susceptible, situational, and selection. The solitary PEP lacks common indicators of a propensity to pursue terrorist action. The susceptible PEP reveals cognitive susceptibility, manifesting as mental illness, to be a key factor in the emergence of a terrorist propensity. The situational PEP demonstrates how situational stressors may act as warnings of acceleration toward violent action. Lastly, the selection PEP demonstrates higher frequencies of leakage and antecedent violent behaviors.Policy Implications: Our findings have two key policy implications. First, given the multifinality of terrorism risk indicators, we suggest a move toward a structuredprofessional judgement approach to the risk analysis of lone-actor terrorists. Second, we present the PEP typology as a framework for intelligence gathering. Existing frameworks are predominantly focused on mobilization 452 CLEMMOW ET AL.indicators. We suggest expanding data collection to include propensity and situational indicators, as operationalized here, and using the PEP typology to inform decisions about the emergence of the motivation to commit an attack. To do so, it is necessary to pursue a multiagency approach to intelligence gathering.

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“…These actors have often not gone through the more “established steps” of radicalization. The process leading toward carrying out a terrorist act occurs much faster and is much more sudden: “the pathway may become a runway” (, page 1643).…”

Section: Review Of the Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Religious Radicalization and Lone‐Actor Terrorism: A Matter for Psychiatry?

Prats¹,

Raymond²,

Gasman³

2018

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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This article discusses the place of the psychiatric field in the ongoing phenomenon of religious radicalization. First, the article provides an overview of the existing literature on lone‐actor terrorists and the link with mental illness. Current research is focusing increasingly on lone‐actor terrorists. This is the most recent and rising development on the global terrorism scene. The literature is currently developing a more precise and informed definition of lone‐actor terrorism. The article then describes and discusses the case study of a mentally ill patient arrested following his assault on a military serviceman on the grounds of religious radicalization. The patient, diagnosed with schizophrenia, is taken as an example of the specific case of religious radicalization in patients with schizophrenia. Finally, the article discusses the curative and preventive roles that can be played by psychiatrists and other professionals who are in contact with these types of patients.

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Lone‐actor Terrorism and Impulsivity

Cited by 20 publications

References 21 publications

Same but Different? Developmental Pathways to Demonstrative Targeted Attacks — Qualitative Case Analyses of Adolescent and Young Adult Perpetrators of Targeted School Attacks and Jihadi Terrorist Attacks in Germany

Same but Different? Developmental Pathways to Demonstrative Targeted Attacks — Qualitative Case Analyses of Adolescent and Young Adult Perpetrators of Targeted School Attacks and Jihadi Terrorist Attacks in Germany

Analyzing person‐exposure patterns in lone‐actor terrorism

Religious Radicalization and Lone‐Actor Terrorism: A Matter for Psychiatry?

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