preview

Definition Of Justification

Decent Essays

Abby Whitley
26 April 2017
Terrorism and justification
In today’s society one of the main threats that politicians and the media focus on the most is the act of terrorism. Terrorism is defined as the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political gain. A person who is considered a terrorist carries out their strategy to remedy or draw attention to an issue that they disagree with. The people who carry out these acts genuinely believe that their actions are justified based on the role that they play within a given conflict. Many terrorists operate on the assumption that there is no other way to get the public attention that they are seeking than to resort to harming others in a way that will bring advertising to their cause. Even …show more content…

Within the Model Penal Code of the United States law it says that a defendant can use justification as an affirmative defense if a person is acting in self-defense or if there was no other choice for the action to occur. Ways in which someone could not stop a crime from happening include either physically, psychology, or under a circumstance in which the defendant was ignorant of relevant facts through no fault of their own. Within these guidelines the act of terrorism is not considered to ever be justifiable.
The main event that sparked the focus on terrorism was the attack of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. This attack inspired The War on Terror, established by President George W. Bush, which is a global effort to combat terrorist’s tactics and the countries who aid terrorists groups. This metaphor of war focused mainly on …show more content…

The people who carry out the plans of the attacks know that killing people is morally wrong but they argue that their actions are permissible because of a compensating good feature. The good feature in their actions is that they are fighting for the spread of their religion and for political gain. In June of 2016 an American citizen who pledged his alliance to the terrorist group ISIS, executed a mass shooting killing 49 people and wounding 53 people in an Orlando, Florida night club. When President Obama addressed the nation about the incident he said, “We know enough to say this was an act of terror and an act of hate.” (CNN ) This was seen as a direct assault on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community. This man’s moral conviction when it comes to religion and perspective regarding sexual orientation did not outweigh his act of terrorism and therefore was not justifiable. One of the worst parts about terror attacks is that innocent people lose their lives with no acknowledgement of weather they support the cause for which the event becomes a target. It may be safe to say that everyone inside the night club did in fact support the freedom of life style choices that the club promoted, however, there was no way that the terrorists could know that for certain. The scary and unjustifiable part about terrorism is that anyone can

Get Access