An Examination of Displaced Harm in Response to U.S. Embassy Fortifications

• In Event: The Complexities of Controlling Terrorism

Abstract

A longstanding concern of implementing situational or defensive counterterrorism measures is the threat of displacing attacks elsewhere. Drawing from the body of work on situational crime prevention, recent examination of this issue suggests that displacement of terrorist attacks is not inevitable and is likely conditioned by the situations and circumstances of the attack. In continuing this line of inquiry, this paper assesses the impact of displacement by looking at the harm produced by situational counterterrorism efforts. Specifically, we examine whether U.S. embassy fortifications resulted in a shift in human fatalities, injuries, and property damage from terrorist attacks.

Authors

• Henda Y. Hsu, Lamar University

• Robert Apel, Rutgers University