Extreme Criminals Reconstructing Ideas of Criminality through Extremist Narratives.pdf (606.49 kB)
Extreme criminals: reconstructing ideas of criminality through extremist narratives
There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that there has been a determined effort by Al Qaeda, and more recently Islamic State, to recruit petty and street criminals into their networks. Despite this, and increasing global concern, there exists very little scholarly literature exploring this phenomenon, particularly empirically grounded. This article directly addresses this gap in research, and is one of the, if not the, first to present an analysis underpinned by qualitative empirical interview data, collected from former extremists and active grassroots workers in the United Kingdom. The article determines that through religious and social justifications offered to reduce moral concerns, extremists encourage criminals to continue, intensify, and diversify their criminality, with intentions to fund violent extremist activity, or to create social unrest within society. Rather than attempting to change behavior, this is about reconstructing criminals’ motivations; a consideration that has wider implications for counterterrorism policy and operations.
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Studies in Conflict and TerrorismISSN
1057-610XPublisher
Taylor & FrancisExternal DOI
Issue
3Volume
43Page range
208-223Department affiliated with
- Sociology and Criminology Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2018-03-20First Open Access (FOA) Date
2019-09-12First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-03-19Usage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedKeywords
Licence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC