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Terrorism And Terrorism

Decent Essays

Introduction

Following the September 11 terror attack on the United States, terrorism has remained a salient issue for the Australian government and a significant source of anxiety for Australians. In fact, a study conducted by Hassan and Martin (2015) determined that 81% of Australians are somewhat fearful of terrorism. In response to the threat, Australia implemented an exhaustive counter-terrorism regime to pre-emptively eliminate potential harms (Williams, 2011). However, while expanded police and judicial powers are somewhat effective crime prevention mechanisms, they do not address the underlying problem. Essentially, a common characteristic of recent terror attacks in Sydney and Melbourne is that the perpetrators are ‘home grown’ individuals who have been radicalised. Critically, these individuals are not formally connected to terrorist organisations, making them harder to detect (Patucci, Ellis, and Chaplais, 2016). The potential harm of terrorism is catastrophic, thus, various developmental programs in Australia and around the world attempt to minimise youth radicalisation through early intervention. Nevertheless, developmental criminology remains underutilised in the counter-terrorism regime and is an important step to eliminating the accompanying us vs. them mentality. Therefore, this paper will establish the body of literature and theoretical framework from which recommendations may be drawn to inform de-radicalisation programs.

Literature Review

The body of

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