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Hostage Negotiation Essay

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Hostage and barricade incidents are amongst the most difficult, emotional, and sometimes potentially lethal situations that a negotiator can be involved in. Often, the hostage taker shows signs of mental illness, drug or alcohol intoxication, or personal disputes accompanied by a high level of emotion. (Feldmann) These contributing factors lead to impulsive and often unpredictable behavior on the part of the hostage taker. It is sometimes impossible for negotiators to anticipate possible outcomes and complications that could arise from these incidents. Negotiators use a wide variety of tools, information, and strategies to try and resolve whatever …show more content…

The most common hostage situations involve a subject who is holding someone with whom there was a romantic involvement, a family member, or someone whom they have had previous problems with. (Fuselier) Romantic involvement and love gone bad are often the emotional driver which leads the subject to lash out. These cases are also the most difficult to negotiate and unfortunately many of them often end in tragedy due to the delicate nature of the subjects emotional state. The mood of the hostage taker often changes from depression to anger, these mood swings pose difficulties for negotiators because they have to keep changing negotiation strategies. (Fuselier)
The third type of hostage taker is either a disgruntled employee or a student. Workplace violence can often be triggered by stress on the job, oppression from co-workers and boss, less than standard performance on the job. Often employees who feel that they do not fit in with the corporate culture experience multiple levels of stress from both the environment and co-workers. (Feldmann) These intense stress levels often interfere with job performance, which lead to management reprimands, which increase the stress level. The disgruntled employee feels that he is spiraling downward and often blames others for his troubles. (Feldmann) These intense emotional levels often lead to a distorted sense of

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