Intervention in Events of Terrorism (From Violent Behavior: Assessment and Intervention, V 1, P 185-199, 1990, Leonard J Hertzberg, Gene F Astrum, et al, eds. See NCJ-123057)

• NCJ Number: 123067
• Author(s): C R Spates; P Little; H V Stock; J S Goncalves
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: PMA Publishing Corp
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After a brief history of terrorism, this chapter discusses the terrorist siege situation and the roles of government, law enforcement, and the media in terrorist incidents.

Abstract

The overview of terrorism's history focuses on the tactics used to this point and likely future trends in terrorism's patterns. The discussion of a terrorist siege or hostagetaking incident addresses the interaction between the terrorists and the hostages ("Stockholm syndrome"), motivations for terrorists' behaviors in the hostage incident, and police negotiations. The discussion of government response to terrorism notes the difficulty of determining governmental jurisdiction for the coordination of a response. The division of responsibility among various government agencies makes government action in a crisis difficult. Another difficult governmental decision is the degree to which government surveillance and restrictions in response to terrorism will erode accustomed citizen freedoms. A review of the law enforcement response to terrorist incidents identifies the factors in an incident that affect the police response and outlines alternative police tactics. The chapter concludes with discussions of the media's role in responding to terrorist incidents and the implications of terrorist motives and tactics for the prevention and managing of terrorism. 11 references.