Crime Prevention and Control Policies - Case Study Example

Terrorism Introduction Terrorism is an extreme criminal action carried out by brainwashed fanatics often educated and highly sophisticated. They are normally closed minded and often disdain views or ideologies that contradict theirs. Rewards for their actions are political or ideological (Borgeson and Valeri, 2009). For one to commit the act of terrorism, he or she must have the desire, the skill, resources and opportunity to commit terrorism (Regoli and Hewitt 2009). No single country is immune to terrorist attacks. Terrorist attacks are often suicidal because the perpetrators are remorseless and merciless. Terrorist groups carry out their heinous acts in the following forms. They bomb important buildings; kidnap or take people hostage; destroy private or public facilities using bombs and grenades; seize planes, ships or buses with an intention of asking for ransom or driving them into buildings; sabotage electricity and water systems to cause shocks or artificial shortage; assassinate key political figures; and shoot people. They use different kind of weapons to kill and maim people. Some terrorist groups are taking advantage of new technology and have started using unconventional weapons of warfare such as chemical and biological weapons. This is a worrying trend indeed. Terrorists claim that they are victims of circumstances and express their anger and frustrations through heinous acts. Terrorist inflicts large scale victimization, spread fear and cause widespread infrastructural damage. Terrorist use violent acts to force, frighten or compel government, civilians, community or any other group to promote their social, religious or political ambitions. They may also intent to influence government policy through coercion or intimidation, or affect the operation of the government through mass destruction, kidnappings or assassinations. There are many terrorist groups. There are over hundred and thirty terrorist groups (refer to appendix: 1) that have been identified in the world. Majority of them claim to be members of Islamic religion. Countries are investing a lot of money to deter and stop terrorist, protect the targets, minimize victimization and reduce destruction that result form a terrorist activity. 2. Nature and Trends of terrorism Terrorism is a major global threat. Nations that provide finance, material and logistical support suffer the most. Terrorism attacks have been on the rise ever since. However, in 2008, first decline in the number of attacks were recorded. Table: 1- illustrates the number of terrorist attacks and resulting deaths between 2005 and 2009. Year Number of attacks Dead 2009 11,000 15,700 2008 11770 15765 2007 14,499 22,685 2006 14,570 20,867 2005 11156 14, 616 Source: National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) (2010) and Kellerhals (2009) From the above table, 2008 began a declining trend of the global terrorist attacks and resulting deaths. However, terrorists continue to detonate bombs, sabotage transport infrastructure, kidnap, hold hostage and seize ships in their heinous acts. Over seventy percent of victims of terrorism are civilians including children (Kellerhals, 2009). Terrorists advance with advancing technology and have become extremely dangerous. Targets continue to be important government buildings, political figures, economic infrastructure, ecological establishments, education infrastructure, tourist sites and military targets among others. According to NCTC (2010), the countries that are suspected to be funding and providing material and logistical support to terrorism groups include Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Iraq. Iran is the most active sponsor and supporter of global terrorism especially those against Americans and Israelis. Al-Qa’ida is considered the most active and dreaded terrorist group due to the magnitude of its coordinated attacks. The most attacked countries are in the Middle East and Central Asia. Terrorists use the internet to circulate propaganda against certain nations and people. In addition, they use telecommunication infrastructure to plan, coordinate and execute their terrorist attacks. Eliminations of terrorist group leaders have been the top agenda for most counterterrorism agencies in the recent times. For example, the security forces of Algeria eliminated Ali Taleb the leader of Salafist group during violent fight between group gangs and government forces. In addition, United States Forces eliminated Al- Zarqawi in an air strike in 2006. Russia security services killed Anzor Astermirov of Vakkhbit militant terrorist group in March 2010 who was on an international wanted list. Hostage taking and kidnapping have increased hundred folds since 1990. The most affected countries are Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Philippines, India, Russia and Colombia (Yun, 2007). Terrorist groups demand money to free their hostages. Spiegel (2007) German, France and Italy have paid millions of Euros to free their citizens held hostage in Iraq. In 2003, German paid over 3 million Euros to secure release of sixteen German tourists. The country later paid for the releases of an archeologist Susanne Osthoff as well as engineers Thomas and Rene in 2005 and 2006 respectively. Terrorists are changing mode of their attacks from using conventional weapons such as bombs and small arms to the use of biological and chemical weapons. It is feared that some of the terrorist groups plan to use nuclear weapons. Terrorist make use of advancing technology. This led to the use of chemical weapons in Sadr City Car Bombing in November 2006. In addition, they continue with their coordinated attacks unabated. They continue to use secondary attacks on people who respond first to acts of terrorism. This is done using Improvised Explosive Devices. 3. Theoretical explanations According to (Moghadam 2006), neurologist and psychiatrist Jeff Victoroff suggested that terrorists’ acts and development can be defined by Psychoanalytical, non-psychoanalytic and group theories of terrorism. Psychoanalytical theory originated from Sigmund Freud. It claims that terrorist’s acts and ideologies stem from psychological distress caused by unresolved internal conflicts relating to childhood fantasies. The theory claims that individuals who have a strong need to consolidate own identities; young; harboring the feelings of low self esteem are more likely to join terrorist groups. Children who lacked empathy developed narcissistic injuries that lead to production of rage as they seek to destroy the source of the injury. Terrorists are normal individuals who have undergone a cultic –like transformation that made them remorseless and merciless (Stahelski, 2004). Such individuals had been subjected to psychological damage (wounds) when they were growing up. They direct their hate and low self esteem to others. They divide the world into us versus them. “Them” are identified as enemies and source of the psychological wounds. Individuals who are suffering from paranoid personality disorder develop distrust and become malicious towards people perceived to be malicious. Dr Post revealed that individuals who are aggressive, action oriented, excitement seekers and have achieved very little in their lives are likely to join terrorism. On the other hand, non-psychoanalytic theory explains that terrorism stem from individual traits. Aggressive, risk takers and thrill as well as excitement seeking individuals are more likely to become terrorists. Terrorism tendencies are also by the cognitive capacity of the person. The way a person thinks, memory capacity, attention and concentration can influence a person to become a terrorist. Such people have the ability and capacity to refer and take risk based on the perceived benefits. Furthermore, non-psychoanalytic theory argues that individuals who have experienced intense humiliation desire to revenge or retaliate to their source of humiliation. Research revealed that humiliation is directly associated with passion for revenge. Group theory is a theory that also explains the root cause of terrorism. It suggests that acts of terrorism originate from ideological indoctrination, peer pressure, lack of constraints and repetitive training. It also claims that group member breed sense of belonging, social status, empowerment and strong purpose. Groups can provide opportunity to express self, courage, excitement, fame and glamour. Through groups, individual get an opportunity to revenge for personal humiliations. Once the person joins a group, organizations goals take priority against personal goals. However, when a member joins a group his or her freedom becomes restricted. Individuals are motivated to join terrorism due to various reasons. First, terrorists justify their actions as serving a moral lesson or purpose. Such moral justifications are evident in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Secondly, terrorist label their acts of violence with positive and respectable words. For example, they believe they are performing ethnic cleansing. Thirdly, terrorist place their act of violence in a relatively light ac compared to those of their perceived enemies. They claim that they are defending themselves from against cruelties and suffering inflicted to them and their people. Ramadan Shalah terrorist leader from Palestinian Islamic Jihad said martyrdom is an effective and a stronger way of avenging for killings and thuggery inflicted on their people (Moghadam 2006). 4. Discussion The drop in global terrorist attacks observed in 2008 and 2009 was due to the concerted counterterrorism efforts by peace loving governments, non-governmental agencies and individuals. For example, most countries have enacted and passed counterterrorism laws as they seek to bring terrorist and other organized gangs into justice. Countries sponsor terrorist activities because they feel that some countries are working to destabilize and jeopardize their interests. For example, Iran perceives that the United States want to derail their national security and development agendas. Terrorists use the internet because it is convenient and safe for them. It is extremely difficult identify a terrorist who uses the internet to plan, communicate and coordinate terrorist acts. . Elimination of terrorist group leaders appears to be taking root in the fight against terrorism. Terrorist leaders are being tracked, followed and monitored so that they can be killed or captured. This is an attempt to weaken terrorist group coordination to prevent further attacks. Terrorist financing have been affected. This is indicated by the increasing number of kidnappings, hostage taking and hijacking with an intension to ask for ransom. This is because antiterrorism efforts have led to freezing and seizure of properties and monies targeted for terrorism activities. In addition, they find it extremely difficult to recruit new members. This has made it extremely for terrorist to raise funds to conduct their activities Terrorists are changing mode of their attacks from using conventional weapons such as bombs and small arms to the use of biological and chemical weapons. It is feared that some of the terrorist groups plan to use nuclear weapons in their attacks. This new approach of attack is causing wide spread fears among populations. This seems to be working for the terrorists and most governments in the world are signing non-nuclear proliferation treaties and agreement to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. This is because if a nuclear weapon is used, the results will be disastrous. 5. Recommendations on how prevent and control terrorism No country is safe. There are over a hundred and thirty terrorist groups across the world. Sadly, no single week passes without hearing the acts of terrorism in some parts of the world. Terrorism is evolving and applies advances in science and technology. Apart from the conventional acts such as suicide bombings, kidnapping and assassination, some terrorist groups have resorted to biological and radiological arsenals. It is feared that some are acquiring nuclear weapons. Governments have the key responsibility of protecting people and their property against destruction by terrorists. Therefore, government through specific agencies and supported by political will must work hard enough to deter and stop terrorist for carrying out their destructive actions against the people and the property. Each country should do the following to prevent and control terrorism. Establish terrorist counterintelligence organizations. Staying ahead of terrorists’ thinking and priorities helps to develop early warning and interception before they reach their targets. Terrorist counterintelligence organizations agencies gather information that assists anti-terrorist enforcing agencies to identify, detect, monitor and interfere with terrorists’ pre-determined attacks. In addition, terrorist counterintelligence organizations should coordinate intelligence and antiterrorist activities. Preventing and controlling terrorism should begin from top country leaders. Country presidents and prime ministers must take the lead in designing antiterrorist polices and mobilize necessary resources to counter terrorism. Country leaders should develop political-military units that reports directly to them. The members of political-military units should be senior officials of all state or federal department agencies in charge with country’s internal security. Enact necessary laws that make the act of terrorism punitive. Laws should be enacted to allow application of full force of the law to any terrorist. The laws should allow antiterrorist agencies to arrest and interrogate suspected terrorist secretly. The laws should also allow for seizure and freezing all terrorist assets. Establish efficient independent financial information processing units in all banks supervised by the ministry of finance and national security. All financial transaction that occurs must be monitored and analyzed. All assets of terrorists must be freezed upon identification. All countries that are serious of combating terrorist must join International Action Task Force whose aim is to combat money laundering. Countries should develop social policies that are non-discriminatory. Terrorist groups are made up of fanatics who feel victimized and segregated. Discrimination and unequal distribution of national wealth are main causes of terrorism. Countries should tighten all its immigration and border points. Establish and equip specialized military units to help rescue victims of terrorist attacks. Harden terrorist targets. Place sturdy obstacles out important areas and buildings. Reinforce and lock aircraft cockpits during all flights. In addition, erect and place bomb-resistant barriers near important places and buildings. Remove infrastructure that could host terrorists and their devices. Remove all garbage cans; pull down all unused building near airports and places of social gathering. References Borgeson, K, & Valeri, R. (2009). Terrorism in America. Canada: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Center for Defense Information (n. d.)Terrorism Project: List of Known Terrorist organizations. Washington. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www.cdi.org/terrorism/terrorist-groups.cfm Kellerhals, D.M. (2008). United States Identifies 42 Foreign Terrorist Organizations: Annual terrorism report released April 30. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www.america.gov/st/peacesecenglish/2008/April/20080429115651dmslahr ellek0.9584772.html Kellerhals, D.M. (2009). Terrorist Attacks Fell 18 Percent in 2008, Washington, Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www.america.gov/st/peacesec- english/2009/April/20090430160651dmslahrellek0.6059229.html Moghadam, A. (2006).The roots of terrorism. New York: Infobase Publishing Regoli, M. R. & Hewitt, D. J. (2009). Exploring Criminal Justice: The Essentials. Canada: Jones & Bartlett Learning, NCTC (2010). Country Reports on Terrorism 2009. Washington, DC Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/08/145737.htm Spiegel (2007). Kidnapping Boom in Afghanistan and Iraq Should Germany Pay to Free Hostages? Retrieved November 24, 2010, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,497269,00.html Stahelski, A. (2004). Terrorists Are Made, Not Born: Creating Terrorists Using Social Psychological Conditioning. Retrieved November 24, 2010, from http://www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/Articles/stahelski.html Yun, M.(2007). “Implications of Global Terrorist Hostage-taking and Kidnapping” Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 1941-4641, Volume 19, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 135 – 165 Appendix 1: List of known terrorist groups Al-Shabaab Taliban Al-Badr Ansar al-Sunna Rivoluzionaria Babbar Khalsa Shining Path al-Qaida in Iraq GRAPO Saor Éire Hamas al-Qaida Hezbollah Aum Shinrikyo Cumann na mBan Hizb ut-Tahrir Vakkhbit militant Al-Aqsa e.V Mujahidin Bangladesh Fatah al-Islam Real IRA Asbat al-Ansar Deendar Anjuman Hizbul Mujahideen Al Ghurabaa Harakat ul Fatah Antimperialistic Armed Islamic Group Lashkar-e-Toiba Caucasus Emirate Jamiat-e Islami Fianna na hÉireann Khuddam ul-Islam Kach and Kahane Chai Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan Jaish-e-Mohammed al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya Dukhtaran-E-Millat Orange Volunteers Islamic Jihad Union Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup Saviour Sect Al Ittihad Al Islamia Abu Sayyaf Group New Peoples Army Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade Jamaat Ul-Furquan Euskadi ta Askatasuna Ansar al-Islam General Command Islamic Army of Aden Egyptian Islamic Jihad Jund Ash Sham Social Reform Society Mujahedin-e Khalq Jundullah Irish Republican Army Khalistan Commando Force Takfir wal-Hijra Red Hand Defenders Jemaah Islamiya amiat ul-Ansar Gamaa al-Islamiyya Irish National Liberation Army Nuclei Territoriali Stichting Al Aqsa Irish Peoples Liberation Organisation Abu Nidal Organization Al-Umar-Mujahideen Communist Party of the Philippines Hynniewtrep National Liberation All Tripura Tiger Force Harakat-ul-Jihad-ul-Islami Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine amaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh African National Congress Harakat-ul-Jihad-ul-Islami al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb Communist Party of India (Maoist) Baluchistan Liberation Army al-Haramain Foundation Great Eastern Islamic Raiders Front Continuity Irish Republican Army Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Harakat-Ul-Mujahideen/Alami Islamic Jihad — Jamaat of the Mujahideen Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front Tamil Nadu Liberation Army Informal Anarchist Federation National Liberation Front of Tripura Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan National Liberation Army Libyan Islamic Fighting Group Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine Kurdistan Workers Party Kangleipak Communist Party international Sikh Youth Federation Nuclei di Iniziativa Proletaria Kurdistan Freedom Falcons Muslim Brotherhood Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Nucleo di Iniziativa Proletaria Loyalist Volunteer Force Palestine Liberation Front Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Nuclei Armati per il Comunismo Manipur Peoples Liberation Front Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Peoples Congress of Ichkeria and Dagestan Palestine Liberation Organization Revolutionary Peoples Front Palestinian Islamic Jihad National Democratic Front of Bodoland Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi United Liberation Front of Asom Red Hand Commando Peoples Liberation Army of Manipur Tamil National Retrieval Troops Ulster Volunteer Force Revolutionary Nuclei Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak World Tamil Movement Ulster Defence Association Revolutionary Struggle Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia Islamic Movement of India Vanguards of Conquest Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Revolutionary Organization 17 November Red Brigades for the construction of the Combative Communist Party Revolutionary Peoples Liberation Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Supreme Military Majlis ul-Shura of the United Mujahideen Forces of Caucasus Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development Sources: Kellerhals (2009), Kellerhals (2008) NCTC (2010), Center for Defense Information n. d. 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