NCJ Number
76468
Date Published
1979
Length
28 pages
Annotation
Efforts by the United States and foreign countries to establish conventions or statutes to deal with terrorism are described and three case studies are presented highlighting major recent legal developments.
Abstract
There is currently considerable disagreement among legalists about what constitutes a terroristic act; aerial high-jacking, and related activities represent the only area in which international consensus has been established. In the United States, the range of Government alternatives has been considerably broadened for dealing with terroristic acts during the 1970's. American initiatives to control international terrorism have targeted the areas of extradition, aircraft protection, financial and material assistance to terrorists, and the reduction of aid to noncooperating governments. The Federal Government has been unsuccessful in diplomatically creating an international convention against terrorism. United Nations actions against terrorism have been characterized by hesitancy to condemn terrorists for domestic and political reasons, and several actions by this body have supported rather than condemned terrorists. Terrorist laws in other Western democracies, in some cases, run the risk of abrogating the rights of innocent citizens. The 1979 case of United States Element Allied Kommandatura versus Ruske and Tiede offers a precedence for an international high-jacking court. The case of Director of Public Prosecution for Northern Ireland versus Lynch raises the issue of complicity under duress. The case of Regina versus Cossette - Trudel, in which Canadians involved in a political kidnapping received light sentences in return for guilty pleas and for returning to stand trial, raises questions concerning the punishment of terrorists. Greater weapons control, improved extradition procedures, the criminalization of hostage taking, and the creation of an international criminal code and court are essential. The designation of terrorists as enemies of humanity, a convention protecting children from terrorist attack, and the use of sanctions against governments aiding terrorists are also needed. Over 150 footnotes, a draft of a United Nations hostage-taking convention, House and Senate legislation on terrorism are included.