RT Article
T1 Terror and Crime: Anatomy of an Austrian Jihadist Prison Cohort
JF International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology
VO 68
IS 15
SP 1467
OP 1484
A1 Peschak, Jörg
LA English
YR 2024
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1905537786
AB Between 2014 and 2018 there was an unprecedented wave of jihadist terrorist activity in Austria that was mostly related to the “Islamic state.” Meanwhile, many individuals have been or are gradually being released from prison. While many were able to disengage, two prevented and sentenced foreign fighters planned attacks in Vienna, one of them succeeded. In order to better understand this type of perpetrator, files of a cohort of 56 convicted jihadist terrorist offenders were analyzed. Half of this cohort were foreign fighters or attempted to become foreign fighters, while others contributed for instance by spreading propaganda, recruiting and assuming leadership. Additionally, a focus group with probation officers and an interview were conducted. The results shed light on various sociodemographic variables showing that there was not one specific profile. Rather, the cohort appeared to be very diverse, being comprised of all genders, age groups and socioeconomic backgrounds. Furthermore, a considerable crime-terror nexus was found. Thirty percent of the cohort had had a criminal past before their engagement in violent extremism. A fifth of the cohort had a prison experience before the arrest for the terrorist offense. The criminal offenses of the cohort were typical for the general population of probation clients which backs the notion that many terrorist offenders belonged to the same population and had switched from “traditional” crime to terrorism.
K1 terrorist roles
K1 Foreign fighters
K1 Political Violence
K1 crime-terror nexus
K1 terrorist offenders
K1 jihadists
DO 10.1177/0306624X231172641