Towards a Typology of Terrorism Involvement: A Behavioral Differentiation of Violent Extremist Offenders

Abstract

Not unlike early criminology, terrorism research currently ignores or minimizes the issue of behavioral variation between and across individuals convicted of terrorist crimes. Consequently, our understanding of what constitutes involvement per se, and what involvement means for those who participate, remains limited. In turn, our ability to provide data-driven support to domains such as risk assessment, sentencing decisions and post-release offender management is nullified from the outset. This article reports behavioral data to greater differentiate terrorist offenders based on analysis of observable patterns of behaviors exhibited prior to arrest. We use multidimensional scaling methods, commonly used in investigative psychology but rarely used in the study of terrorist behavior. We identify three distinct behavior themes that differentiate individuals convicted of terrorist related offenses in the United States who operated on behalf of the Global Jihadist Movement (GJM). Furthermore, by comparing individuals who gravitate toward one of these themes, or roles, we highlight distinct sociodemographic factors associated with these different types. Our results warrant further research to disaggregate “the terrorist” as well as support ongoing debates about the psychological aspects of involvement and engagemsent in terrorist activity. Our results are highly exploratory, and future research needs to go beyond typologies within groups, but within roles themselves. These findings however, serve to demonstrate the importance of such differentiation when discussing “the terrorist.”