Developing a Typology of Terrorism Involvement as a Basis to Planning for Sentencing, Management, Risk Reduction, Release and Monitoring of Terrorist Offenders

• In Event: Intersections of Criminology, Psychology and Political Violence

Abstract

Is it possible to know whether a terrorist is truly “rehabilitated”? Is it safe to release a former terrorist back into the wider community? Concerns abound over the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs and the wider issues of assessing and sentencing terrorists in the first place. Building on CTSS’s existing work on disengagement and de-radicalization, this project seeks to develop a descriptive typology of involvement in terrorism that will provide guidance for sentencing, managing (and, depending on the jurisdiction, ‘treating’), releasing, and monitoring terrorist offenders. This research is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) via the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START).

Authors

• James Silver, University of Massachusetts, Lowell

• Neil Shortland, University of Massachusetts, Lowell