Homegrown Terrorists Analysis

The use of terrorism started in 1795 relating to the reign of terror leaded by the French Government. The reason people become terrorist is because they see it as their only choice or is a sign for defending their religion. “The personal pathway model suggests that terrorists came from a selected, at risk population, who have suffered from early damage to their self-esteem,” (psychologist Eric D. Shaw). This explains how young adults are becoming terrorist to find themselves, also because they are not happy with who they are. Terrorist technology has changed over the course.

We are all individuals. As individuals, we do not all live the same lives and share the same interests. It is greatly because of this, there are many psychological and behavioral factors that can impact the radicalization of an individual. Not everyone is going to be as receptive to certain things as other people may be. We must understand what the factors are that can increase the likelihood of someone turning to a life of terror in order to have a more significant chance at countering them. It is important to know why someone joins an organization such as al Qaeda or a white supremacist group in order to know which

Yesterday April 19th,1995 Ex-Army soldier and security guard Timothy McVeigh parked his truck lined with explosives in front of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building downtown Oklahoma City.

Domestic Terrorism can be described as many things. The FBI describes domestic terrorism as, “Perpetrated by individuals and/or groups inspired by or associated with primarily U.S.-based movements that espouse extremist ideologies of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.” People who commit domestic terrorism crimes often have different motives such as: religion, political, and even race. A specific case that resembles this, is the shooting in Las Vegas which occurred on June 8, 2014.

The following is a brief explanation of the motivation of the Islamic Jihad Group. Included is a response to how the knowledge of the Islamic Jihad Group’s motivation might assist in planning counter terrorist strategy. Included are explanations as to how the motivations of terrorists differ from the motivations of other violent criminals and how cultural, socioeconomic, or political factors could lead a person to become a terrorist or criminal.

Ever since post 9/11 conflicts began and the United States became involved in the Syrian conflict, several homegrown radicalized terrorist have come extremely close to succeeding in highly destructive attacks. Currently, there are gaps in understanding the radicalization of homegrown Muslims in the United States. Therefore, it is imperative to understand paths towards radicalization through crime prevention strategies (Kamien, 2012). The sources listed below will aid in the psychological background of radicalization, and how radicalization happens to homegrown Muslim converts and non-converts (Schumacher, 2011).

The research assessment on various study reports identified the distinct phases of radicalization process, which include, pre-radicalization, self-identification, indoctrination, and ‘Jihadization’ (Silber, M. D., & Bhatt, A., 2001). According to the research study, passing through the entire process sequence, makes an individual likely to get involved in implementation or planning of terrorist act. The researcher noted that Al-Qaeda has provided motivation for homegrown

Although world hunger and threat of nuclear war are among the highest issues in our world today, none rings more true with many people then the issue of domestic terrorism. As defined by the Oxford dictionary, domestic terrorism is “The committing of terrorist acts in the perpetrator's own country against their fellow citizens.” (Oxford dictionary, 2018) Right after the nine-eleven attacks of September 2001 President Bush initiated the war on terror (The Washington Post, 2001) which has attempted to put an end to domestic terrorism. Unfortunately it has really not made much of an impact when we look at events like the Boston Marathon bombing and the Las Vegas shooting.

The U.S. government takes any attack or threat very seriously. In cases such as this one the government would develop a plan of action to deal with the attacks and find the source to take down any further plans of attack. The government would investigate the background of the decreased perpetrators along with their involvement of homegrown terrorists inspired by al-Qaeda. The background will extend to others members they have been in communication with in the last few years. The government would want to investigate who gave the order for the attacks was it foreign influence or not. Furthermore, governments can “starve” terrorists out by making it extremely difficult to plan, plot, and carry out their attacks, and also by finding ways to gain

In the article, Explaining Lone Wolf Target Selection in the United States, Michael Becker explains how terrorists use specific ideologies to radicalize individuals. “The idea that ideology would be an important influence on target selection may seem trivial; ideological motivations, in part, are what distinguish terrorists from ordinary criminals” (Becker, 2014). Becker goes on to describe how these ideological motivations influence individuals not only to carry out acts of terror, but how to select their targets. Many have the perception that individuals who carry out acts of terror have some sort of deep-rooted tie to the Islamic religion. However, Becker suggests in his article that many lone wolves are breed not born. These individuals are targeted through specific and or sympathetic ideological strategies used by influencers. Through manipulative tactics, influencers are able to successfully wolves and carry out attacks without adding

Terrorism is a difficult issue to understand and grasp for many people. What is even more difficult to understand is what drives an individual to become radicalized to the point of joining a terrorist organization and committing terrorist acts. While there is not specific criteria or a “cookie cutter” approach to understanding what motivates and radicalizes an individual to participate in such atrocities, there are however, several psychological and behavioral factors that have been common among these individuals. The following paper will outline some of the psychological and behavioral factors that attribute to an individual’s radicalization and eventual willingness and even perhaps

What is domestic terrorism?Terrorism is the act of using guns to force their own government or high power to meet their plans to further themselves” (Domestic Terrorism 1). Some examples are the Boston Marathon bombing, and the Oklahoma City Bombing” (Domestic Terrorism 1).Most acts of domestic terrorism is done by an extremist.An extremist is someone who is evry religious and takes action” (Domestic terrorism 1).

Although each case is different and there is a combination of different factors involved in each case, some of the main factors that play a role in those U.S. citizens or U.S. residents who become radicalized and carry out extremist violence are crisis and depravation. In king an Taylor’s article, the factors of crisis or depravation are mentioned in almost all the theories that seek to explain the process of radicalization (King & Taylor, 2013). To understand why would someone commit such acts, it is important to understand what is radicalization and what is homegrown terrorism. Radicalization is when someone of any nation adopts new beliefs in which using violence will be the only way to resolve the problems that the individual or the group that the individual belongs to is facing; and homegrown terrorism is when someone becomes radicalized to exclusively commit terrorist attacks in the terrorist’s own nation (King & Taylor, 2013, pg. 603)(Miller, 2007). Most of the homegrown terrorists, particularly the ones in the U.S., tend to become radicalized when they are going through a major life crisis such as when they lose a job; when they have family issues; when they are going through a transition or drastic change in their life; or when they have been treated unfairly by a particular group (King & Taylor, 2013, pg. 607).

There are many things can be seen in the psychology of terrorism. Unfortunately there is not good science on psychological factors of terrorism; there are theories and educated opinions (DeAngelis, 2009). The one overarching factor is the fear with which terrorism is based. By definition, terrorism is acts that cause terror by one group on to another, usually for political goals (“Terrorism”, n.d.). Why people suffer from these fears is related to their psychological behavior. Terrorist activity can be described as “fostering a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, in demonstrating the incompetence of the authorities, destroying a sense of security and safety, and in provoking inappropriate reactions from individuals and authorities.” (Alexander & Klein, 2005). Terrorists themselves are affected by psychological behavior; their own and that of others around them. They may even be affected by the behavior of victims and potential victims. Osama Bin Laden has even been known to admit that in the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, his

Group interactions have significant influences on individual attitudes, commitment and belief towards certain actions. In a seminal paper by Mark Sageman, the influence of social dynamics on the radicalization process was highlighted. He noted the social elements that may influence Middle Eastern Muslims who study abroad in Europe. The main issue was the fact that these individuals felt homesick and alienated in their host countries. Due to the social alienation, these individuals sought companionship at the local mosque and form small cliques with peers. The social cliques are mostly focused on keeping the dietary restrictions of Islam but the social interactions taking place push the individuals closer to the radicalized state. The networks of relatives and friends have been highlighted as significant in the radicalization