NCJ Number
79925
Date Published
1980
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Definitional problems in the Rand Corporation's study of terrorism are discussed.
Abstract
'Terrorism' has no precise or widely accepted definition. Some have indicated that there can be no objective definition of terrorism, since there are no universal standards of conduct in peace or war. This is not true, however, since most civilized nations have common laws of criminal conduct that include homicide, kidnapping, and willful destruction of property. While some of these laws may be violated in war, even in war there are rules that outlaw the use of certain weapons and tactics, such as the existence of neutral territory, and the relative sanctity of noncombatants and civilian facilities. Actions which do not recognize the traditional limits to violence and destruction even in the midst of political conflict should certainly receive a negative label from all civilized nations. That label could very well be 'terrorism.' The term implies that a central goal of such activity is to create fear, which may cause a terrorist movement to be perceived as having power, or provoke extreme reactions, discourage dissent, or enforce compliance. In the Rand Corporation's identification of terrorist incidents to be included in a chronology of such incidents in which terrorists go abroad to strike their targets, select victims or targets because of their connections to a particular foreign state, attack airliners on international flights, or force airliners to fly to another country. This approach excludes the considerable amount of terrorist violence conducted by terrorists in their own countries and by governments against their own citizens. Some problems encountered by Rand in identifying certain types of incidents for their chronology are discussed.