Hostage Negotiations - Dilemmas About Policy (From Perspectives on Terrorism, P 201-211, 1983, Lawrence Zelic Freedman and Yonah Alexander, eds. - See NCJ-100393)

• NCJ Number: 100400
• Author(s): N Friedland
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Scholarly Resources, Inc.
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Despite the potential effectiveness of the 'no ransom' policy as a the government's willingness to let hostages die at terrorist hands without government rescue actions or its willingness to accept the risk that hostages will die in a rescue attempt. Negotiation under a 'no ransom' policy can only be designed to persuade the terrorists to surrender or perhaps to grant the terrorists safe passage in exchange for hostage safety. The latter, however, may be construed as capitulation. A government's willingness to incur the costs of unswerving commitment to a 'no ransom' policy finally depends on the strength of constituency support for the policy, public confidence in the soundness of the government's decisions, and the public's willingness to view policy from a dispassionate and rational perspective. 5 footnotes.