Temporal trends in US counterterrorism sting operations, 1989–2014

ABSTRACT

How has the US government’s use of counterterrorism sting operations changed over the past quarter-century? Have major terrorist attacks led to more frequent sting operations and/or more frequent entrapment – and if so, have such changes been temporary or long-lasting? Have different types of terrorism provoked different reactions? This study answers these questions using a database of US terrorism prosecutions occurring between 1989 and 2014, each coded for 20 indicators of entrapment. We analyse temporal trends, and in particular, compare the government’s responses to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 terror attacks. Results indicate that after the Oklahoma City bombing, the number of sting operations against right-wing extremists doubled, while the average number of entrapment indicators dropped. This suggests that authorities in the 1990s responded to the growing threat of right-wing terrorism appropriately: conducting more investigations while avoiding entrapment. After 9/11, sting operations against suspected jihadi terrorists rapidly increased, but in this case, they featured high numbers of entrapment indicators through the end of the study period, suggesting widespread and persistent entrapment. Reasons for this difference, and for the government’s failure to reduce entrapment in response to widespread criticism over the past decade, are analysed.

KEYWORDS:

• Counterterrorism
• entrapment
• civil liberties
• sting operations
• 9/11

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jesse J. Norris

Dr Jesse J. Norris is a sociologist and legal scholar whose current research focuses on entrapment in contemporary counterterrorism policy. His work has been published in such journals as Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Harvard Journal on Legislation, New Criminal Law Review and American Journal of Criminal Law. He received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He is currently an assistant professor of Criminal Justice at the State University of New York at Fredonia.

Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk

Dr Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk is an assistant professor of Sociology at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York.  With Jesse Norris, she is working on a series of projects evaluating U.S. counterterrorism practices. Her other primary areas of interest include medical sociology, demography, and quantitative methods.  Her work has appeared in journals including Demography, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology and Journal of Health and Social Behavior.