Law Enforcement versus Police Interrogations - Assignment Example

Terrorism is thus a form of deviant behavior. Since behavior is the hallmark here, old members of terrorist groups may work relentlessly on the psyches of new members, getting them optimally motivated and reinforced for desired behaviors. The old members also ensure that the new members are properly indoctrinated in the "crux" of the job, that is, deciding to participate in an attack even when the terrorist must die in order for the attack to be successful. Terrorism appeals to some people so much that they seek to affiliate and identify with terrorist groups and to adopt the major features of terrorist culture.

Law Enforcement agencies see terrorism as a threat to national security and unity of the nation. in contrast, police interrogations see terrorism as aggression towards individuals and a threat to social order and obedience (Horgan, 2005). An important aspect of terrorists' socialization processes is the belief that the gains of dying while destroying their targets are inestimable for them after death. In socializing their subjects into believing this, terrorist leaders may easily capitalize on the already mature suicidal and aggressive tendencies in their subjects.

With their orientation toward their leaders, after whom they also model themselves, terrorists will not find it difficult to believe this kind of "fantasy." This is probably why there are many terrorists ready to volunteer to undertake suicide attacks. Although this aspect of their beliefs has a religious undertone, terrorist leaders often use it to galvanize their subjects into action (Reich et al 1998). Law Enforcement agencies take into account the social learning theory which makes an important distinction between different types of aggression.

Cultures and social groups have various norms regarding the appropriate use of aggression in inter-group conflict and hostility. From a psychological perspective, a key question is how effective the U.S. approach is likely to be in preventing terrorism (Horgan, 2005). The central thesis is that the approach is inherently limited because it fails to address the causes of terrorism, which, left unattended, are likely to boost anti-U.S. sentiments and produce new generations of terrorists. It suggests that a peace-building focus is needed to complement the current approach and to construct a comprehensive, psychologically informed strategy of terrorism prevention.

The enemy imagery is one of the fundamental psychological mechanisms that motivate terrorism and lifts moral restraints against committing horrific acts of violence (Bonger et al. 2006).In contrast to law enforcement agencies, the police accept and follow social injustice theory. Social injustice takes many different forms and consists of a mixture of objective and subjective elements. Objectively, it includes human rights violations, direct victimization, political and social oppression, and structural violence through preventable failure to meet basic human needs as a result of conditions such as poverty (Horgan, 2005).

Although these objective and subjective elements are completely interwoven, the analysis below emphasizes the subjective since views of political conflict and terrorism.