Restorative Justice and Terror: Questioning Restorative Practices' Applicability in Addressing Terror as an Integration Method

• In Event: Roundtable: Domestic and International Terrorism

Abstract

Terror prevention models assume radicalization. This search assumes that terror recruitment communicates legitimization of violent responses to injustices. Many terror recruits in western countries are young people from excluded background. Restorative justice (RJ) theory communicates mutual respect, acceptance, inclusion and empathy. It aims at creating communities of care to deal with harms. While acknowledging victimization, RJ commits to constructive and non-violent responses.
My goal is to understand RJ's potential as a cultural construction undermining terror's legitimization.
In the search for constructions ascribed to terror, mass-media reports are analyzed socio-linguistically and structurally. Favorable accounts as “freedom fighters”, “fighters against injustices” or “warriors against historical wrongdoing” are attributed to terror. “Heroic", “courageous” or “holy” are adverbs and adjectives legitimizing these measures and their agents accordingly. It is a “duty” in the name of a “just cause”. Victims are “the enemy”, “suppressors”, “indifferent to suffering” or “necessary sacrifices” (“Martyrs”). Empathy to victims appears as irrelevant. Such expressions provide an appealing notion, minimize hindrances and maximize inclinations to engage in terrorism among excluded young people. RJ’s inclusive ideas undermine justifications of self enhancement resulting from violence. However, when terror justifications value ideas higher to individual human life, RJ measures are questioned.

Author

• Esther Friedman, Linnaeus University