Empirical Exploration into the Discrepancy of Mental Disorder across Group-Actor Terrorists.

• In Event: Biosocial and Psychological Perspectives on Serious Criminal Offending

Abstract

Sociological theories of terrorism purport there to be an inherent lack of mental disorder across terrorist offenders. More recent evidence highlights that this lack of disorder is exclusive to group-actors. Disorder prevalence within group-actors is far lower than lone-actors, the general population, and multiple crime types. This study seeks to identify the mechanisms causing this discrepancy. Expanding on Corner and Gill’s (2015) comparative analyses of group and lone-actor terrorists. This research utilises three unique data sets (a lone-actor dataset from Gill et al (2014) and Horgan et al. (Forthcoming), a group-actor dataset created from open source data concerning individuals active in the US and Europe between 1990 and 2014, and a second group-actor dataset built from autobiographical information). This chapter seeks to identify underlying mechanisms causing such a discrepancy in prevalence of mental disorder. To test this, a series of hypotheses concerning early life experiences, selection effects, roles, engagement, disengagement, and stressors are tested. Results and implications are discussed.

Author

• Emily Corner, University College London