Introduction to Terrorism

Running Head: TERRORISM 1
INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Terrorism
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TERRORISM 2
Introduction
While discussions about terrorism has now become part of our daily lives, the
mainstream media and social media have become the key players in delivering and spreading
the latest developments regarding the issue, and thus keeping the public informed and
updated. Virtually everyone has his position when looking at these problematics issues. The
main objective of this paper is to discuss terrorism, the social construct around it, its key
features, patterns and the context of terrorism. Notably, events such as the 911 attack have
made it clear to everyone that we are is a period in history where countries , even
superpowers are being challenged by unorthodox ways .Such challenges can come from
within a country or outside , depending on the main agenda of the perpetrators
Characteristics
Terror attacks are very serious crimes and are affecting every community around the
world. However, even though terrorist activities are serious crimes, it is vital to note that
terror victimisation is different from criminal victimisation in the sense that the former has an
intrinsic political view. The political element might also involve ideological objectives. For
example, the direct victim of terrorism is hardly ever the definitive target of the act .Rather
the act is usually an objective that serves as an amplifier to send of the wider message that
would sway a broader audience such as an opponent states of a terrorist organisation (LaFree,
& Freilich, 2016). A fundamental objective of terrorism is for the public to pay attention to
the message being sent out, through psychological fear due to the act. The fear invoked on
people is further intensified through the victim, with the notion that “it could have been me.”
Therefore, the victims of terror attacks serve a symbolic purpose of shared characteristics,
which in turn forms one foundation for the selection as the victims. In that sense, terror
victims as instrumental targets and not the end goal.

TERRORISM 3
Politicians, the mainstream media and opportunistic islamophobias have taken an
opportunity to characterise terrorism as a predominantly Islamic activity by creating a false
sense of national insecurity over the “could be” Muslim terrorists with insidious outcomes.
However, this is not true, as terrorism is an activity conducted by persons of all walks of life,
race, and region. For instance, in the United States, there has been multiple cases of mass
shooting conducted by white Christians (Ezcurra, 2019). The rhetoric of the war on terror has
turned terrorists into an everyday metonym of Muslims. Therefore, the new proposition that
“anyone can be a terrorist” is often translated to any Muslim can be a terrorist.
Patterns
Even though the term is not a matter to a collectively agreed definition, terrorism is
widely agreed to be a technique of coercion that applies violence as a way of spreading fear
and thus attaining the intended political and ideological goals. Nowadays, terrorism is
distinguished in law from other forms of violence through the classic triangle of violence:
party A attacks party B, to convince party C to change their perspective concerning some
sections or policies preferred by party A. Terrorist attacks often spread panic as the activities
are directed, unpredictably against innocent targets, which in turn pressures a third party such
as institutions or government to amend their position. Modern terrorists use multiple forms of
violence and generally target the general public or state officials among others.
As argued by Campana, & Hervouet, (2013), in order to properly understand the
objective of terrorist activities, we ought to understand, the fundamental triangular
relationship in the strategy of all terrorists, the main target of all terrorists and the actual
objective behind their actions. The real target by terrorists is not Christianity or Islam, it is an
ideological push towards a country’s government which the terrorist intend to convince to