Extreme Criminals: Reconstructing Ideas of Criminality through Extremist Narratives

ABSTRACT

There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that there has been a determined effort by Al Qaeda, and more recently Islamic State, to recruit petty and street criminals into their networks. Despite this, and increasing global concern, there exists very little scholarly literature exploring this phenomenon, particularly empirically grounded. This article directly addresses this gap in research, and is one of the, if not the, first to present an analysis underpinned by qualitative empirical interview data, collected from former extremists and active grassroots workers in the United Kingdom. The article determines that through religious and social justifications offered to reduce moral concerns, extremists encourage criminals to continue, intensify, and diversify their criminality, with intentions to fund violent extremist activity, or to create social unrest within society. Rather than attempting to change behavior, this is about reconstructing criminals’ motivations; a consideration that has wider implications for counterterrorism policy and operations.

Notes

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5. Martin Gallagher, “‘Criminalised’ Islamic State Veterans—A Future Major Threat in Organised Crime Development?,” Perspectives on Terrorism 10(5) (2016); Rajan Basra, Peter R. Neumann, and Claudia Brunner, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus” (ICSR, 2016), p. 3. Available at http://icsr.info/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Criminal-Pasts-Terrorist-Futures.pdf (accessed 10 July 2017).

6. Home Affairs Select Committee, Roots of Violent Radicalisation: Nineteenth Report of Session 2010–12, Volume 1 (London, 2012), p. 44.; Kevin Johnson, “DOJ Studying Links between Gangs, Violent Extremists,” USA Today, February 2015. Available at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/19/gangs-extremists-study/23695089/ (accessed 17 August 2017).

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11. Rajan Basra and Peter R. Neumann, “Crime as Jihad: Developments in the Crime-Terror Nexus in Europe,” CTC Sentinal 10(9) (2017), pp. 1−6; Rajan Basra and Peter R. Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus,” Perspectives on Terrorism 10(6) (2016), pp. 25–40.

12. Emilie Oftedal, “The Financing of Jihadi Terrorist Cells in Europe” (Norwegian Defence Research Establishment [FFI], 2015). Available at http://www.ffi.no/no/Rapporter/14-02234.pdf (accessed 10 July 2017)

13. Basra and Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

14. Anwar al-Awlaki, “The Ruling on Dispossessing the Disbelievers wealth in Dar al-Harb,” Inspire 1431 (2010).

15. Islamic State, Rumiyah (11)(Shawwāl 1438), Al-Ḥayāt Media Center.

16. Ibid., p. 30.

17. Ibid., p. 31.

18. It should not be assumed that these religious justifications are representative of wider Muslim communities’ beliefs. Differences in religious interpretations have been cited as forming part of the narrative when justifying violence or acts of terrorism, or deviance more generally. See, for example, Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003); Olivier Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004).

19. It is acknowledged that the terms “extremism” and “extremist”—in addition to “radicalization” and “terrorism”—are complex and problematic. The use of the terms in this article refer to Al Qaeda and Islamic State inspired definitions offered by Suraj Lakhani, “Radicalisation as a Moral Career: A Qualitative Study of How People Become Terrorists in The United Kingdom,” Ph.D., Universities Police Science Institute: Cardiff University (2014).

20. Basra and Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

21. Daniel H. Heinke, “The German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq: The Updated Data and its Implications,” CTC Sentinal 10(3) (2017), pp. 17–22; Basra and Neumann, “Crime as Jihad”; Basra et al., “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures”; Colin C. Clarke, “Crime and Terror in Europe: Where the Nexus Is Alive and Well,” RAND, December 2016. Available at https://www.rand.org/blog/2016/12/crime-and-terror-in-europe-where-the-nexus-is-alive.html (accessed 3 November 2017); Sam Mullins, “The Road to Orlando: Jihadist-Inspired Violence in the West, 2012-2016,” CTC Sentinal 9(6) (2016), pp. 26−30.

22. This article focuses on a post-affiliation scenario. How this affiliation occurs was not discussed within the empirical data collection. This has been raised as a concern in wider research. See Basra and Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

23. This includes Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham.

24. Basra and Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

25. Tamara Makarenko, “The Crime–Terror Continuum: Tracing the Interplay between Transnational Organised Crime and Terrorism,” Global Crime 6(1) (2004), pp. 129–145; Hutchinson and O'Malley, “A Crime–Terror Nexus?,” pp. 1095−1107; Chris Dishman, “The Leaderless Nexus: When Crime and Terror Converge,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 28(3) (2005), pp. 237−252; Chris Dishman, “Terrorism, Crime, and Transformation,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 24(1) (2001), pp. 43−58; Sheldon X. Zhang, Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings: All Roads Lead to America (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2007); John P. Sullivan, “Maras Morphing: Revisiting Third Generation Gangs,” Global Crime 7(3–4) (2006), pp. 487−504.

26. Matthew Valasik and Matthew Phillips, “Understanding Modern Terror and Insurgency through the Lens of Street Gangs: ISIS as a Case Study,” Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice 3(3) (2017), pp. 192−207.

27. Makarenko, “The Crime–Terror Continuum.”

28. Gallagher, “‘Criminalised’ Islamic State Veterans.”

29. Vanda Felbab-Brown, “The Coca Connection: Conflict and Drugs in Colombia and Peru,” The Journal of Conflict Studies 25(2), pp. 104−128.

30. Matthew D. Phillips and Emily A. Kamen, “Entering the Black Hole: The Taliban, Terrorism, and Organised Crime,” Journal of Terrorism Research 5(3).

31. Horgan and Taylor, “Playing the ‘Green Card’—Financing the Provisional IRA: Part 2”; Ryan Clarke and Stuart Lee, “The PIRA, D-Company, and the Crime-Terror Nexus,” Terrorism and Political Violence 20(3) (2008), pp. 376−395.

32. Hutchinson and O'Malley, “A Crime–Terror Nexus? Thinking on Some of the Links between Terrorism and Criminality.”

33. Ibid.

34. Oftedal, “The Financing of Jihadi Terrorist Cells in Europe.”

35. Clarke, “Crime and Terror in Europe.”

36. Christina Steenkamp, “The Crime-Conflict Nexus and the Civil War in Syria,” Stability: International Journal of Security and Development 6(1) (2017), p. 11.

37. Gallagher, “‘Criminalised’ Islamic State Veterans.”

38. Basra and Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

39. Clarke, “Crime and Terror in Europe.”

40. Heinke, “The German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq”; Basra and Neumann, “Crime as Jihad”; Basra et al., “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures”; Clarke, “Crime and Terror in Europe”; Mullins, “The Road to Orlando.”

41. Heinke, “The German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq”; Basra and Neumann, “Crime as Jihad”; Basra et al., “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures”; Clarke, “Crime and Terror in Europe”; Mullins, “The Road to Orlando.”

42. Basra et al., “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: .”

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid.

45. Gallagher, “‘Criminalised’ Islamic State Veterans.”

46. Basra and Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

47. Basra and Neumann, “Crime as Jihad,” p. 2.

48. Clint Watts, “Why ISIS Beats Al Qaeda in Europe,” Foreign Affairs, November 2017. Available at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2016-04-04/why-isis-beats-al-qaeda-europe (accessed 27 November 2017).

49. Gallagher, “‘Criminalised’ Islamic State Veterans.”

50. Dishman, “The Leaderless Nexus.”

51. Marc Sageman, Understanding Terror Networks (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004).

52. Edwin Bakker, “Jihadi Terrorists in Europe: Their Characteristics and the Circumstances in which They Joined the Jihad: An Exploratory Study” (Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael, 2006). Available at https://www.clingendael.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/20061200_cscp_csp_bakker.pdf (accessed 5 June 2017)

53. Heinke, “The German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq”; Basra and Neumann, “Crime as Jihad”; Basra et al., “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures”; Clarke, “Crime and Terror in Europe”; Mullins, “The Road to Orlando.”

54. Nabeelah Jaffer, “The Secret World of ISIS Brides: ‘U dnt hav 2 pay 4 ANYTHING if u r wife of a martyr,’” The Guardian, June 2015. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/24/isis-brides-secret-world-jihad-western-women-syria?CMP=share_btn_tw (accessed 25 July 2017).

55. Basra et al., “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

56. Lakhani, “Radicalisation as a Moral Career”; Abdul Haqq Baker, “Countering Terrorism in the UK: A Convert Community Perspective,” Ph.D., University of Exeter (2009).

57. Basra and Neumann, “Crime as Jihad,” p. 1.

58. Ibid, p. 4.

59. Donald T. Campbell, “The Informant in Quantitative Research,” The Journal of Sociology 60(4) (1955), pp. 339−342.

60. HM Government, Channel Duty Guidance: Protecting Vulnerable People from being Drawn into Terrorism (London: 2015).

61. For a detailed discussion on the terms “intervention,” “deradicalisation,”and “counterradicalisation,” see Alex P. Schmid, “Radicalisation, De-Radicalisation, Counter-Radicalisation: A Conceptual Discussion and Literature Review” (International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, 2013). Available at https://www.icct.nl/download/file/ICCT-Schmid-Radicalisation-De-Radicalisation-Counter-Radicalisation-March-2013.pdf (accessed 15 July 2017).

62. Howard S. Becker, Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (New York: The Free Press, 1970), p. 3.

63. Jane Ritchie, Jane Lewis, and Gillian Elam, “Designing and Selecting Samples,” in Jane Ritchie and Jane Lewis, eds., Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers (London: Sage Publications, 2003).

64. Robin Simcox, “‘We Will Conquer Your Rome’: A Study of Islamic State Terror Plots in the West” (The Henry Jackson Society, 2015). Available at http://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/ISIS-brochure-Web.pdf (accessed 4 June 2017).

65. Carolyn Hoyle, Alexandra Bradford, and Ross Frenett, “Becoming Mulan?: Female Western Migrants to ISIS” (Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2015). Available at https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ISDJ2969_Becoming_Mulan_01.15_WEB.pdf (accessed 4 June 2017).

66. Elizabeth Pearson, “Online as the New Frontline: Affect, Gender, and ISIS-Take-Down on Social Media,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism (September 2017), pp. 1−25. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2017.1352280

67. Baker, “Countering Terrorism in the UK.”

68. Basra et al., “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

69. Basra et al., “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures,” p. 4.; Normark and Ranstorp, “Understanding Terrorist Finance Modus Operandi and National CTF-Regimes.”

70. Here, the term “petty and street level crime” is not used to determine differences between classes in crime, but more to highlight the lack of involvement of organized criminal networks. See definition of “organized crime” offered by the National Crime Agency.

71. Gresham M. Sykes and David Matza, “Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency,” American Sociological Review 22(6) (1957), pp. 664–670.

72. Steve Hall, Simon Winlow, and Craig Ancrum, Criminal Identities and Consumer Culture: Crime, Exclusion and the New Culture of Narcissism (Collumpton: Willan, 2008).

73. Thomas Ugelvik, “The Rapist and the Proper Criminal: Exclusion of Immoral Others as Narrative Work on the Self,” in Lois Presser and Sveinung Sandberg, eds., Narrative Criminology: Understanding Stories of Crime (New York: New York University Press, 2015).

74. Interview 45.

75. Mark Juergensmeyer, “Religion as a Cause of Terrorism,” in Louise Richardson, ed., The Roots of Terrorism: v.1 (Democracy and Terrorism) (London: Routledge, 2006), pp. 133–144.

76. Suraj Lakhani, “The Boston Bombings: Was Religion the Motivating Factor?” (Extremis Project, 2013). Available at http://extremisproject.org/2013/05/the-boston-bombings-was-religion-the-motivating-factor/ (accessed 15 July 2017). Lakhani, “Radicalisation as a Moral Career”; Marc Sageman, “Jihad and 21st Century Terrorism.” Paper presented at The New American Foundation, Washington, February 2008.

77. Michael E. McCullough and Brian L. B. Willoughby, “Religion, Self-Regulation, and Self-Control: Associations, Explanations, and Implications,” Psychological Bulletin 135(1) (2009), pp. 69−93; Volkan Topalli, Timothy Brezina, and Mindy Bernhardt, “With God on my Side: The Paradoxical Relationship between Religiosity and Criminality among Hardcore Street Offenders,” Theoretical Criminology 17(1) (2013), pp. 49−69; T. David Evans, Francis T. Cullen, R. Gregory Dunaway, and Velmer S. Burton Jr., “Religion and Crime Reexamined: The Impact of Religion, Secular Controls, and Social Ecology on Adult Criminality,” Criminology 33(2) (1995), pp. 195−224, at p. 195.

78. Topalli et al., “With God on my Side.”

79. Michael King and Donald M. Taylor, “The Radicalization of Homegrown Jihadists: A Review of Theoretical Models and Social Psychological Evidence,” Terrorism and Political Violence 23(4) (2011), pp. 602−622.

80. Interview 11.

81. Ibid.

82. Interview 56.

83. Interview 20.

84. Interview 17.

85. Bruce A. Jacobs and Richard Wright, “Moralistic Street Robbery,” Crime & Delinquency 54(4) (2008), pp. 511−531, at p. 524.

86. Basra and Neumann, “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

87. Interview 29.

88. Interview 56.

89. Interview 07.

90. The term “benefit” refers to state benefits in the United Kingdom.

91. Interview 29.

92. Lakhani, “Radicalisation as a Moral Career.”

93. Ibid.

94. Cass R. Sunstein, “Why They Hate Us: The Role of Social Dynamics,” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 25(2) (2002), pp. 429−440; Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner, “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behaviour,” in Stephen Worchel and William G. Austin, eds., Psychology of Intergroup Relations, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1986), pp. 7−24.

95. Basra and Neumann, “Crime as Jihad,” 2.

96. Sykes and Matza, “Techniques of Neutralization,” p. 667.

97. Stanley Milgram, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View (London: Tavistock Publications, 1974).

98. Clarke, “Crime and Terror in Europe.”

99. Petter Nesser, “Joining Jihadi Terrorist Cells in Europe: Exploring Motivational Aspects of Recruitment and Radicalisation,” in Magnus Ranstorp, ed., Understanding Violent Radicalisation: Terrorist and Jihadist Movements in Europe (London: Routledge, 2010), pp. 108–109.

100. Interview 19.

101. Jack Katz, “The Motivation of the Persistent Robber,” Crime and Justice 14 (1991), pp. 277−306; Richard Wright, Fiona Brookman, and Trevor Bennett, “The Foreground Dynamics of Street Robbery in Britain,” British Journal of Criminology 46(1) (2006), pp. 1−15; Bruce A. Jacobs and Richard Wright, “Stick-Up, Street Culture and Offender Motivation,” Criminology 37(1) (1999), pp. 149−174.

102. Interview 29.

103. Lakhani, “Radicalisation as a Moral Career.”

104. Interview 3.

105. Topalli et al., “With God on my Side.”

106. Basra and Neumann, “Crime as Jihad,” p. 2.

107. Lakhani, “Radicalisation as a Moral Career.”

108. Ibid.

109. Regeringen, Preventing and Countering Extremism and Radicalisation: National Action Plan (Copenhagen: 2016).

110. Suraj Lakhani and Sam Bernard, “Safeguarding by Consent: An Integrated Approach to Addressing Vulnerability in the Context of Safeguarding Activity” (University of Sussex, 2017). Available at https://www.sussex.ac.uk/webteam/gateway/file.php?name=safeguarding-by-consent—ke-report—uos-2017.pdf&site=21 (accessed 20 November 2017).

111. Georg Heil, “The Berlin Attack and the ‘Abu Walaa’ Islamic State Recruitment Network,” Combatting Terrorism Center 10(2) (2017). Available at https://ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-berlin-attack-and-the-abu-walaa-islamic-state-recruitment-network (accessed 10 March 2018).

112. Basra et al., “Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures.”

113. Mitchell D. Silber, The Al Qaeda Factor: Plots Against the West (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011).

114. Nesser, “Joining Jihadi Terrorist Cells in Europe.”