RT Article
T1 Lone actor terrorists: a residence-to-crime approach
JF Terrorism and political violence
VO 32
IS 7
SP 1413
OP 1438
A1 Marchment, Zoe
A1 Bouhana, Noémie
A1 Gill, Paul
A2 Bouhana, Noémie
A2 Gill, Paul
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/183143346X
AB Although there has recently been a considerable increase in research into lone actor terrorism, one of the main areas that remains understudied is that of target selection. The lack of empirically driven studies that can guide prevention measures is a notable oversight. This paper applies methods from environmental criminology to examine the residence-to-attack journeys of 122 lone terrorist acts in the U.S and Europe. The distance decay effect was evident, and significant differences were found between subgroups. Individuals were more likely to travel further if a) they were in the U.S, b) they had links to a wider network, c) they had a single-issue ideology, d) they attacked an iconic target, e) they attacked a symbolic building, or f) they used a bomb as their main weapon. A few case studies are discussed which highlight a need to conduct further research that considers the whole nodal network of an individual. The findings suggest that distance can be put forward as a constraining factor on lone actor target selection and provide support for the notion that the spatial decision making of terrorists is similar to traditional criminals.
NO Gesehen am 18.01.2023
NO Published online: 18 Jul 2018
K1 Lone actor terrorism
K1 target selection
K1 distance decay
K1 Environmental Criminology
DO 10.1080/09546553.2018.1481050