What makes terrorism different

A terrorist publication is one which could be useful to a person in the commission or preparation of acts of terror. Examples include R v Abdul Miah and the maximum sentence in respect of this offence is seven years' imprisonment. Read more about Dissemination of terrorist publications S. The Act updates and closes gaps in existing counter-terrorism legislation to ensure that it is fit for the digital age and reflect contemporary patterns of radicalisation.

The Act will help reduce the threat posed by terrorism and hostile state activity by:. Further information about the provisions in the Act can be found on GOV. Some provisions will come into force at the end of the period of two months after the passing of the Act. There is no one type of terrorist or terrorism.

It originates from a variety of countries and terrorists have multiple ethnic, racial, religious and or political identities and have different views, aims and purposes. Here are some examples:. The most common type of CPS terrorism case has been Syria-related since Daesh took over large areas of Syria and Iraq from onwards. Daesh tactics are geared to attract maximum publicity to amplify the spread of fear; they use violence against anyone who does not agree with their extreme views.

Read the Guidance in relation to the prosecution of offences relating to Daesh and the conflict in Syria, Iraq and Libya revised December Recent years have seen a rise in cases of far right extremism in the UK.

Far right extremists promote messages of hate-filled prejudice which can encourage radicalisation among people motivated by race hate. Groups including the now proscribed National Action have been under scrutiny for promoting offensive, anti-Islamic messages which run contrary to the values of respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.

The group uses conventional techniques seeking to recruit new members in the UK to achieve mass civilian casualties. In four would-be suicide bombers were been found guilty of conspiracy to murder after planning a coordinated attack designed to cause death and destruction on the London transport system.

Those who assisted them were charged and convicted under s38B and received sentences of imprisonment ranging between 4 years 9 months and 13 years. Call the UK Anti-Terrorism Hotline on if you've seen or heard something that you think could suggest terrorist activity.

The CPS can apply for special measures so victims and witnesses in terror related cases can give their best evidence in court. Help us to improve our website; let us know what you think by taking our short survey.

Contrast Switch to colour theme Switch to blue theme Switch to high visibility theme Switch to soft theme. Search for Search for. Top menu Careers Contact. Examples include: serious violence against a person or damage to property, endangering a person's life other than that of the person committing the action , creating a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or a section of the public, action designed to seriously interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.

Are terrorism cases dealt with differently from other cases? Terrorism or not? Substantive terrorism offences In recent years a number of offences and powers have been designed to counter the activities of terrorists. Preparation of terrorist acts S. Collecting Information S. Dissemination of terrorist publications S. To this end, in the next section, I will argue that the definition of terrorism and the designation of who perpetrates it is not only controversial, dynamic and ever-changing, but also heavily influenced by the prevailing political landscape.

A case study in the controversial, changing definitions of terrorism: The United States. The United States of America provides an interesting and layered case study into the complexity of defining terrorism; leaving definitions open to interpretation by those implementing anti- and counter-terrorism strategies; and the inherent vulnerability of those definitions to partisan politics.

The United States as a government and society is not immune to the issues faced in academia and the world at large when it comes to attempts to define terrorism. On a practical, pragmatic level, analysing terrorism in America is difficult to do because there is both widespread ambiguity as to what to should be considered terrorism, and reliable official statistics on terrorist incidents are difficult to track across 50 states and numerous federal agencies.

Christopher Hewitt in the book, Understanding Terrorism in America , underscores the enormous difficulty faced by law enforcement in attempts to identify, thwart and prevent terrorism, stemming from the lack of a consensus on a definition. The FBI relies on reports from local law enforcement to gather information for their data but without a way to apply the definition across the board, the agency has to rely on the discretion of those offices. The true purpose of defining terrorism for law enforcement and those implementing anti- and counter-terrorism policies is to create frameworks within which violent attacks are understood, plans to execute them are thwarted and those planning them are caught and prosecuted.

I would argue that this stalemate is not something that has occurred by accident, rather that it is the result of policies influenced by politics which dictate the definition. The distinction between domestic and international terror is blurred in America because of a host of factors.

The country has a long history of domestic terror ranging from those in the South who sought to prevent the racial desegregation of the region in the s and 60s, to protest action related to the Vietnam War in the s, to the debate around abortion in the s and 90s, and many other issues Hewitt, While it is not possible in this paper to explore all of the different variations of terrorist attacks that have occurred in America in recent decades, nor to examine the groups that have perpetrated them, it is important to note that America has faced many threats from many groups before and faces a multitude of threats now.

These conclusions were echoed in a June research study that found that between and , more than 70 attacks by right-wing, anti-government groups were recorded and 50 attempts were foiled by law enforcement, as opposed to 18 attacks by so-called Islamist extremists were recorded and 45 attacks foiled Neiwert, It should be noted that this research does not suggest nor claim that violence perpetrated by people aligned to so-called Islamist extremist groups is not a threat or that the threat has been eliminated, but rather that the threat from right-wing extremists is just as deadly and urgent, if not more.

Even though there has been a clear increase in the number of terrorist attacks carried out against Americans in America by right-wing, white supremacist and white nationalist individuals and groups in recent years, there is a slow reaction at best and wholesale reluctance at worst on the part of government and law enforcement to define the issue as terrorism.

There are many examples of this in contemporary American history. A report by the National Bureau of Economic research showed that between and , abortion providers have been the targets of more than acts of violence, defined as arson, bombings, murders and acid attacks on personnel. Hewitt describes anti-abortion terrorism as violence executed by people who hold strongly anti-abortion views, with fundamentalist Protestants and devout Catholics being the most opposed to abortion These groups and individuals fit virtually every definition of terrorism, including those of the FBI and US State Department; however, no perpetrator charged with a violent act attacking an abortion provider has ever simultaneously or independently been charged with terrorism CBS News, This is not the only variant of right-wing extremism largely left out of the definition of terrorism.

Debates around violence perpetrated by male white supremacists almost all invariably centre around gun control or the need for gun reform or connections between mental illness and a propensity for violence, but rarely do they ever involve discussion over whether the perpetrators had terrorist intent and political motivation. This has changed in recent years following several prominent attacks.

However, prosecutors in that state and in that case, did not charge the assailant with terrorism. Conversely, James Harris Jackson, a white man, who fatally stabbed a black man in March in New York City was charged with terrorism for an attack motivated by similar intention.

While it is not possible to detail each of them in this paper, there have been dozens of other attacks perpetrated by white men, under the age of 30, who have affiliations with white nationalist and white supremacist groups that have not been treated as cases of domestic terrorism. This purposeful pivot away from the evidence that suggests a growing problem of violence spreading in one particular community represents a political decision not to act with the same vigour against that group as other groups, such as Muslim men.

The contemporary political landscape in America suggests that the definition of terrorism will continue to be controversial and that in fact, the controversy will not be resolved without the political will that would stop the urge to bend the definition of terrorism to suit a narrow partisan agenda or to ignore evidence of a growing terrorist threat.

In the broader context of American society and politics, there is now an urgent need to question the previously-held definitions of terrorism and to question if these definitions are truly helpful in tackling terrorism.

Where they are not — either because they are unfairly applied to different groups seen as threats or not applied at all — it must be asked if the US government and law enforcement sectors are standing by while domestic terrorism is perpetrated on their watch and why.

The concept of terrorism is difficult to define because the politics involved in doing so are difficult to manage. In this paper, I have attempted to traverse the difficult terrain that is the concept of a definition of terrorism. A section of this paper illustrated how a change in perspective has brought resolutions to various countries over modern political history, with the key determinant for the success of that process being political will.

In attempting to understand if those kinds of resolutions are at all possible in present-day global politics, the case study of the United States of America was examined.

The conclusion in this paper is that where political influence trumps facts-based evidence, the definition of terrorism and who constitutes a terrorist threat becomes even more complex and controversial with little possibility of that controversy being resolved because of a disagreement on the basic facts.

Ultimately this irregular application of definitions harms work that can and should be done in terms of anti- and counter-terrorism initiatives and only leaves governments and populations more exposed than protected from harm in the long-run.

Canetti, D. Carver, A. Chailand, G. Ganor, B. Hankes, K. The Alt-Right is Killing People. Masters, J and Rebaza, C. Moran, M. Neiwert, D. Nixon, R. Peled, S. Sanchez, R. Shanahan, T. Routledge Handbook of Critical Terrorism Studies.

I sometimes wonder if white people themselves are aware of how often the crimes committed by their racial group are excused or minimized under the guise of anxiety, mental illness, drug addiction, depression and BS fragility sensitivity syndrome yes, I made up that last one.

Am I saying that excuses and pretexts should be provided when Muslims, Black or brown people commit terrible crimes? Absolutely not. My point is that all attacks of this nature — regardless of the race, colour, and ethnicity of the perpetrator — are acts of terror. The gravity of the butcheries committed in mass shootings are so horrific, it is terrorism, pure and simple.

Time to label it as such. Portsmouth Climate Festival — Portsmouth, Portsmouth. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom. Become an author Sign up as a reader Sign in.

A memorial for the victims of the shooting at Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church, including 25 white chairs painted with a cross and and rose, is displayed in the Texas church.

A man opened fire inside the church yet his attack has not been labelled terrorism.