Erratum: Concepts of and Approaches toward a developmental prevention of radicalization

Abstract

Within the introduction of this article we cited several slightly incorrect data and used some misleading formulations. Although these mistakes do not change our general statements, they nevertheless should be corrected (corrections are marked bold). Introduction Despite the urgency of the current Covid19 pandemic, radicalization and extremism continue to be pressing problems throughout the world. According to the Global Terrorism Index, about 16,000 people lost their lives in 2018 as a result of politically or religiously motivated terrorist attacks (Institute for Economics and Peace, 2019). Although these are mainly people from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq, and Syria, problems of radicalization and extremism are still a realistic threat within European societies. For example, about 41,000 politically motivated offenses were registered in Germany in 2019 - an increase of about 14 percent compared to 2018 (BMI, 2020). Of these, about 31,500 offences and 2,800 violent crimes had an explicit extremist background. In addition, more than 30,000 people in each group of right-wing, left-wing, or religious extremists have been observed as suspected cases, and a substantial number of these express a readiness to use violence. These and other data underline the need for effective prevention measures as a prominent future challenge facing the world community. However, when designing and implementing programs, it will be important to do this against the background of scientific knowledge on how radicalization and extremism emerge. This article presents an overview of relevant issues and promising approaches with which to tackle growing radicalization in young people from a developmental science perspective. © 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH. All rights reserved.