Doing Derad: An Analysis of the U.K. System

ABSTRACT

Since 2005, Britain has utilized a handful of interventionists to engage with those at risk of violent extremism and those convicted of terrorism related charges in order to manage its risk of terrorism. The goal of the interventionists is to “deradicalize” those that they interact with to facilitate their reintegration in society. This article discusses the mentoring environment in the United Kingdom, how intervention providers establish their credibility with individuals, communities, and government, some of the structural safeguards and their impact on mentoring, how success is conceived, and the absence of reporting.

Notes

1. For instance, see Theresa Eckhard, “Prison Based Deradicalization for Terrorist Detainees: An Analysis of Programmatic Religious Re-Education and Systematic Institutionalization and their Impact on Achieving Deradicalisation” (Ph.D. Diss., Northern Illinois University, 2014); Anne Speckhard, “Prison and Community Based Disengagement and De-Radicalization Programs for Extremists Involved in Militant Jihadi Terrorism Ideologies and Activities.” Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271195266_Prison_and_Community_Based_Disengagement_and_DeRadicalization_Programs_for_Extremists_Involved_in_Militant_Jihadi_Terrorism_Ideologies_and_Activities (accessed 10 November 2016); Andrew Silke, Prisons, Terrorism, and Extremism: Critical Issues in Management, Radicalisation, and Reform (London: Routledge, 2014); Peter Neumann, Prisons and Terrorism: Radicalisation and De-Radicalisation in 15 Countries (London: Kings College, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, 2010) and Basia Spalek and Lynn Davies, “Mentoring in Relation to Violent Extremism: A Study of Role, Purpose, and Outcomes,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 35 (2012), pp. 354–368.

2. Interview with London Probation Service (anonymized), 2014, Also confirmed when interviewing subjects, 1.5.1, 1.6.1, 1.7.1, 1.9.1, and 1.15.1, 2014.

3. Spalek and Davies, “Mentoring in Relation to Violent Extremism.”

4. Neumann, Prisons and Terrorism.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid. Also see Tore Bjørgo and John Horgan, eds., Leaving Terrorism Behind (London and New York: Routledge 2009).

8. Omar Ashour, The Deradicalization of Jihadists: Transforming Armed Islamist Movements (London: Routledge, 2009), p. 5.

9. John Horgan and Kurt Braddock, “Rehabilitating the Terrorists?: Challenges in Assessing the Effectiveness of De-Radicalization Programs,” Terrorism and Political Violence 22 (2010), pp. 267–291.

10. See Bjørgo and Horgan, Leaving Terrorism Behind; Speckhard, “Prison and Community Based Disengagement and De-Radicalization Programs”; and Neumann, Prisons and Terrorism.

11. Ibid.

12. Michael J. Williams and Steven M. Kleinman, “A Utilization-Focused Guide for Conducting Terrorism Risk Reduction Program Evaluations,” Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression 6(2) (2013), pp. 1–45.

13. Ali Soufan et al., Risk Reduction for Countering Violent Extremism (Qatar: QIASS, 2010).

14. See Neumann, Prisons and Terrorism; Soufan et al., Risk Reduction for Countering Violent Extremism; and Silke, Prisons, Terrorism, and Extremism.

15. Andrew Silke, “Disengagement or Deradicalization: A Look at Prison Programs for Jailed Terrorists” CTC Sentinel 4(1) (2011), pp. 18–24.

16. Williams and Kleinman, “A Utilization-Focused Guide,” p. 12.

17. Horgan and Braddock, “Rehabilitating the Terrorists.”

18. Kate Barrelle, “Pro-Integration: Disengagement and Life After Extremism” (PhD diss., Melbourne: Monash University 2014), p. viii.

19. John Horgan, Walking Away from Terrorism: Accounts of Disengagement from Radical and Extremist Movements (London: Routledge, 2009).

20. Ashour, The De-Radicalization of Jihadists.

21. Ibid.

22. Elie Shneour, “Planting a Seed of Doubt,” Skeptical Inquiry 22 (1998), pp. 40–42.

23. Bart Schuurman and Edwin Bakker, “Reintegrating Jihadist Extremists: Evaluating a Dutch Initiative,” Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression 8(1) (2013–2014), p. 69.

24. Neumann, Prisons and Terrorism, p. 57.

25. Ronald D. Crelinsten, “Analysing Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism: A Communication Model,” Terrorism and Political Violence 14(2) (2002), p. 78.

26. Robert Lambert, Countering Al Qaeda in London: Police and Muslims in Partnership (London: Hurst, 2011).

27. Interview with subject 1.12.1, 2014.

28. Ibid.

29. Lambert, Countering Al Qaeda in London.

30. Chris Vallance, BBC R4, “Intervention Providers,” 16 October 2015.

31. Interview with London Probation Service (anonymized), 2014.

32. Ibid.

33. Interview with subject 1.12.1, 2014.

34. Ibid.

35. Ibid.

36. Home Office, Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill Fact Sheet (London: Home Office, 2014), p. 1.

37. The Home Office, Channel Duty Guidance: Protecting Vulnerable People from being Drawn into Terrorism (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 2015).

38. Ibid.

39. Ibid.

40. Interview with London Probation Service (anonymized),

41. Home Office, Channel Duty Guidance, p. 16.

42. Ibid.

43. Interview with London Probation Service manager (anonymized), 2014.

44. National Offender Management Service (NOMS), License Conditions (London: Ministry of Justice, 2011), p. 4. Available at http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/psipso/psi-2011/pi_07-2011_licence_conditions_final.doc (accessed 13 February 2015).

45. NOMS, License Conditions, p. 6.

46. Ibid..

47. Mark Dechesne, “Deradicalization: Not Soft but Strategic,” Crime, Law, and Social Change 55 (2011), pp. 287–292.

48. Ibid.

49. Ibid.

50. Ibid.

51. NOMS, License Conditions; Also see National Offender Management Service, Managing Terrorism and Extremist Offenders in the Community (London: NOMS, 2014).

52. Beth Weaver and Monica Barry, “Managing High Risk Offenders in the Community,” European Journal of Probation 6(3) (2014), pp. 278–295.

53. Speckhard, “Prison and Community Based Disengagement and De-Radicalization Programs.”

54. Douglas Weeks, The Victimisation Experience and Radicalisation Process: An Understanding of the Victim Perpetrator Cycle Amongst Individuals Involved in Terrorism (Brussels: European Commission, 2016).

55. Interview with subject 1.15.1, 2014.

56. See Horgan and Braddock, “Rehabilitating the Terrorists?”; also see Neumann Prisons and Terrorism.

57. Speckhard, “Prison and Community Based Disengagement and De-Radicalization Program.”

58. Neumann, Prisons and Terrorism.

59. Ibid.

60. Theresa Eckhard, Prison Based Deradicalization for Terrorist, p. 194.

61. Neumann Prisons and Terrorism.

62. Gwen Griffith-Dickson, Andrew Dickson, and Robert Ivermee, “Counter-Extremism and De-Radicalisation in the UK: A Contemporary Overview,” Journal for Deradicalization 1 (2014), pp. 26–37.

63. Basia Spalek and Douglas Weeks, “Community Based Counter-Terrorism,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism (2017). doi:10.1080/1057610X.2016.1253984.

64. Interview with subject 2.2.1, 2014.

65. Interview with subject 2.3.1, 2014.

66. Interview with subject 1.5.1, 2014.

67. Ibid.

68. Interview with subject 1.7.1, 2014.

69. Interview with subject 1.12.1, 2014.

70. Ibid.

71. House of Commons, Preventing Violent Extremism (London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 2010), p. 16.

72. CONTEST 2011 defines the core British values as “democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs,” p. 62.

73. Interview with subject 1.16.1, 2014.

74. Interview with subjects 1.5.1 and 1.15.1, 2014.

75. E-mail correspondence with subject 1.5.1, 2015.

76. Interview with subject 1.7.1, 2014.

77. This assessment was made by several of the mentors that were interviewed for this study. It was similarly made by community members from other unpublished research by this author.

78. Spalek and Davies, “Mentoring in Relation to Violent Extremism.”

79. Horgan, Walking Away from Terrorism.

80. For instance, see Barrelle, Disengagement and Life After Extremism; Soufan et al., Risk Reduction for Countering Violent Extremism; Horgan and Braddock, “Rehabilitating the Terrorists?”; Speckhard, “Prison and Community Based Disengagement and De-Radicalization Programs”; Silke, “Disengagement or Deradicalization”; and Schuurman and Bakker, “Reintegrating Jihadist Extremists.”

81. Marisa Porges, “Getting Deradicalization Right,” Foreign Affairs 89(3) (May–June 2010), pp. 1–3.

82. For example, see Edwin Bakker, Jihadi Terrorists in Europe: Their Characteristics and the Circumstances in Which They Joined the Jihad (The Hague: Clingendael Institute, 2006); Marc Sageman, Understanding Terrorist Networks (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004).

83. Silke, Prisons, Terrorism and Extremism, p. 111.

84. Neumann, Prisons and Terrorism.

85. Jamie Greer, Vikram Dodd, and Jason Rodrigues, “Anjem Choudary Convicted of Supporting Islamic State,” The Guardian, 16 August 2016. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/16/anjem-choudary-convicted-of-supporting-islamic-state (accessed 14 November 2016).

86. Sharia represents a system of social order and governance based on divine law derived from the Quran, Sunnah, and Hadith.

87. Numerous interviews and discussions with Anjem Choudary by author between 2010 and present.

88. Rajan Basra, Peter Neumann, and Claudia Brunner, Criminal Pasts, Terrorist Futures: European Jihadists and the New Crime-Terror Nexus (London: ISCR 2016), p. 5.

89. Interview with subject 1.14.1, 2014.

90. National Offender Management Service (NOMS), Managing Terrorism.

91. Silke, Prisons, Terrorism, and Extremism.

92. Ibid.

93. Interviews with subjects 1.5.1, 1.6.1, 1.7.1,1.10.1, 1.11.1, 1.12.1, 1.14.1, and 1.15.1, 2014.

94. “Anti-Radicalisation Strategy Lacks Evidence Base in Science,” The Guardian, 29 September 2016. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/29/anti-radicalisation-strategy-lacks-evidence-base-in-science (accessed 25 November 2016).

95. Interview with subject 1.17.1, 2014.

96. Interview with subject 1.11.1, 2014.

97. Interview with 1.13.1, 2014.

98. Interview with subject 1.6.1, 2014.

99. Association of Chief Police Officers, Anonymised telephone conversation with two seconded ACPO officers, 2015.

100. Josh Halliday, “Almost 4,000 People Referred to UK Deradicalisation Scheme Last Year,” The Guardian, 20 March 2015. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/20/almost-4000-people-were-referred-to-uk-deradicalisation-scheme-channel-last-year (accessed 5 May 2016).

101. Interview with London Probation Service (anonymized), 2014.

102. Ibid.

103. Soufan et al., Risk Reduction for Countering Violent Extremism, p. 8.

104. Porges, “Getting Deradicalization Right.”

105. Interview with subject 1.5.1, 2014.

106. Ibid.

107. Spalek and Davies, “Mentoring in Relation to Violent Extremism,” p. 355.

108. Schuurman and Bakker, “Reintegrating Jihadist Extremists.”

109. Williams and Kleinman, “A Utilization-Focused Guide for Conducting Terrorism Risk Reduction Program Evaluations.”

110. Interview with subject 1.15.1, 2014.

111. Dechesne, “Deradicalization: Not Soft but Strategic.”

112. See Spalek and Davies, “Mentoring in Relation to Violent Extremism.”

113. David Cameron, Extremism Speech, 20 July 2015.

114. Interview with subject 1.7.1, 2014.

115. Interview with subject 2.2.1, 2014.

116. Ibid.

117. Douglas Weeks, “Radicals and Reactionaries: The Polarisation of Government and Community in the Name of Safety and Security” (Ph.D. Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2013).