This book explores the process of terrorists behavioural analysis, starting from the social-psychology profile of terrorists to the development of constructed risk assessment tools. Most of the research for this book was conducted with the cooperation of the Intelligence Department of the Israeli Prison System, where qualitative in-depth interviews with leaders of terrorist organisations in prisons around Israel were conducted by the author. Once the social-psychology profile was established, the next development would be the forming of terrorist risk assessment tools, to allow for better observation and practical management of the problems.This book hopes to fill in gaps in the literature relating to the psychology of terrorist groups' leaders in prisons by analysing the main aspects of their social, professional, and personal lives, as well as their attitudes and perceptions. The book will also cover the practical aspects of risk assessment that can be established from such social-psychology profiles, along with the relevant tools that has been developed in recent years, and hopes to better inform counterterrorism initiatives and policymaking, as well as improving methods of communication, counterterrorism, and conflict resolution.

'This book's excellent discussion of the theories and concepts involved in profiling terrorists, including those who are incarcerated, is a major contribution to the academic discipline on these issues.'Perspectives on TerrorismTerrorist Minds: From Social-Psychological Profiling to Assessing the Risk explores the process of terrorist behavioural analysis, from the social-psychological profiling of terrorists to the development of risk assessment tools. Most of the research for this book was conducted in cooperation with the Intelligence Department of the Israeli Prison Service via qualitative, in-depth interviews with leaders of terrorist organisations in Israeli prisons. Once social-psychological profiles were established, terrorist risk assessment tools were developed to allow for better observation and practical management of associated problems.This book fills the gaps in existing literature on the psychology of imprisoned terrorist group leaders through the analysis of individuals' social, professional and personal lives, as well as their attitudes and perceptions. The book also covers the practical aspects of risk assessment based on social-psychological profiling, and discusses relevant tools that have been developed in recent years. It aims to better inform counter-terrorism initiatives and policymaking, as well as improve methods of communication, counter-terrorism, and conflict resolution.

In the Middle East, the world's deadliest organizations, the Islamic State and al Qaeda have firmly established their presence in the Levant and the Gulf. In parallel, state- sponsored Shia threat networks, groups and cells, notably the Lebanese Hezbollah and Houthis operate throughout the Middle East and beyond. Exploiting the conflict zones and their cascading ideologies, both the Sunni and Shia threat entities compete to advance their own interests. Their parent and affiliate entities recruit and radicalise both territorial and diaspora Muslims to fight each other. Unless governments work together to mitigate the threat at the core and the edge, the Middle East and its peripheral territories in Asia and Africa will suffer from terrorism and political violence in the foreseeable future.The response to extremism and its vicious by-product terrorism requires both preventive intelligence-led and pre-emptive community-based security approaches. While developing tactical counter-terrorism capabilities, governments should build strategic capabilities to erode their support bases. The new frontiers in counter-terrorism and extremism — community engagement and rehabilitation — should be integrated into government planning. Unless governments take the lead and work with community leaders, societies will be threatened by the existing and emerging wave of ideologically-motivated violence. Government and community leaders should develop whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approaches to dismantle transnational threats. To contain, isolate and eliminate the evolving threat, the Middle Eastern states should shift from security cooperation to collaboration and partnership.

The Psychology of Terrorists examines the personality profile of the individual and categorizes the psychology of terrorists into four distinct profiles which are outlined and analyzed in detail. There are many books that cover social psychology and political violence and aggression, but few establish the mind-set of the terrorist as an individual. This includes taking into account personal experiences, and religious or political ideology for the purposes of understanding conceptual and tactical objectives and profiling terrorists to counter terrorist threats. Dr. Raymond Hamden presents a unique look at terrorists as individuals with personal motives as well as those of principle. The book presents an analysis of terrorists without prejudice or bias for any political, religious, nationality, creed, or race. Too many times the world see experts focus on issues that are based on their own predispositions or partialities. Although there is criticism on the reliability of profiling, this research demonstrates validity and reliability. It is vital to understand terrorist motivations and this can only be achieved by "knowing" the terrorists' psychological character, looking at the individual terrorist, taking into account particular experiences, psychological makeup, background, and fundamentalist ideology. The Psychology of Terrorists: Profiling and CounterAction will be a welcomed addition to psychologists, terrorism researchers, criminal profilers, investigators and intelligence professionals, counter- and anti-terrorism experts, as well as military, security, and law enforcement professionals tasked with protecting individuals from the various acts of terrorism, domestically and globally.

The search for a distinct "terrorist profile" has been going on for many years, and while it is generally agreed that nobody is born a terrorist, there is plenty of disagreement about why a person might become one. Whereas personal and situational push and pull factors can be combined to determine how and why young people become involved in terrorism, preventing an individual from following a path that ends in violence without moral restraint poses an enormous challenge, especially in an open society. This book presents papers from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop titled "A Review of the Utility of Existing Terrorism Risk Assessment Instruments and Policies: Is there the Need for Possible New Approaches?", held in Berlin, Germany, on 29-30 November 2019. Researchers were asked to present papers for discussion sessions with invited participants and practitioners from a number of NATO member and partner countries. Various assessment instruments for identifying problematic individuals at an early stage were presented by experts. It was generally agreed that, due to cultural, religious and other differences, there is no simple way to identify the relatively few high-risk individuals among the larger population of politically radicalized but not necessarily violent individuals who pose no threat. Framed by an Introduction and Conclusion, the 16 chapters in the book are divided into three parts: Theory and Risk/Threat Assessment Instrument Policy Themes; Implementation of Politically Motivated Terrorism Protocols; and Personality Traits/Disorders, Anti-State Terrorism Profiles and the DSM-5 Personality Trait Instrument. This practice-oriented book will be of interest to all those tasked with protecting society from some of its most dangerous members.

This volume examines the lone actor terrorist phenomenon, including the larger societal trends which may or may not have led to their acts of terrorism. With lone actor terrorism becoming an increasingly common threat, the contributors to this volume aim to answer the following questions: What drives the actions of individuals who become lone actor terrorists? Are ideological and cultural issues key factors, or are personal psychological motives more useful in assessing the threat? Do lone actors evolve in a broader social context or are they primarily fixated loners? What response strategies are available to security services and law enforcement? What is the future outlook for this particular terrorist threat? Although these issues are frequently discussed, few books have taken a global perspective as their primary focus. While many books focus on lone actor terrorists in relation to terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaida and the Islamic State, few, if any, cover lone actors of all ideological backgrounds, including the variants of active shooters and malicious insiders in information security, such as Edward Snowden – with both of these latter categories constituting an important variant of lone actors. Utilising the expertise of academics and practitioners, the volume offers a valuable multidisciplinary perspective. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and counter-terrorism, political violence, criminology, security studies and IR.

Forensic Psychology is essential reading for all undergraduate courses in forensic psychology and an excellent introduction for more detailed postgraduate courses. Expert authors cover every aspect of forensic psychology, from understanding criminal behaviour, to applying psychological theory to criminal investigation, to analysis of the legal process and the roles of witnesses, to the treatment of offenders.

Aims to show how community-based psychosocial approaches promote the psychosocial well being of children following war and terrorism. This book focuses on community-based interventions that link individual mental health/psychosocial well being with the health and stability of the community.

The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism systematically integrates the substantial body of scholarship on terrorism and counterterrorism before and after 9/11. In doing so, it introduces scholars and practitioners to state of the art approaches, methods, and issues in studying and teaching these vital phenomena. This Handbook goes further than most existing collections by giving structure and direction to the fast-growing but somewhat disjointed field of terrorism studies. The volume locates terrorism within the wider spectrum of political violence instead of engaging in the widespread tendency towards treating terrorism as an exceptional act. Moreover, the volume makes a case for studying terrorism within its socio-historical context. Finally, the volume addresses the critique that the study of terrorism suffers from lack of theory by reviewing and extending the theoretical insights contributed by several fields - including political science, political economy, history, sociology, anthropology, criminology, law, geography, and psychology. In doing so, the volume showcases the analytical advancements and reflects on the challenges that remain since the emergence of the field in the early 1970s.