How can the literature inform counter-terrorism practice? Recent advances and remaining challenges

In 2014 an intense debate over the state of terrorism literature was published. Sageman [2014. The stagnation in terrorism research. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(4), 565–580. doi:10.1080/09546553.2014.895649] claimed that the field had stagnated, mainly due to lack of data sharing between government departments that have access to valuable information that could inform our understanding, and researchers who have the skills and expertise to make sense of this. However, others were more positive regarding the literature, highlighting areas where progress has been made [e.g. McCauley, & Moskalenko (2014). Some things We think We've learned since 9/11: A commentary on Marc Sageman's ‘The stagnation in terrorism research'. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(4), 601–606. doi:10.1080/09546553.2014.895653; Stern (2014). Response to Marc Sageman's ‘The stagnation in terrorism research'. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(4), 607–613. doi:10.1080/09546553.2014.895654; Taylor (2014). If I were you, I wouldn't start from here: Response to Marc Sageman's The stagnation in terrorism research’. Terrorism and Political Violence, 26(4), 581–586. doi:10.1080/09546553.2014.895650]. Here we re-visit the literature and identify advances that have been made since 2014. We explore ongoing challenges for terrorism researchers and practitioners, and options for ways forward to ensure evidence-based responses to terrorist individuals and groups

Crime Script Sequencing: An optimal forensic combination for cold case analysis

Criminal cases go cold when investigative leads or forensic testing does not lead to a successful arrest. In these cases, investigators are often keen to use novel methods to derive fresh ideas or insights. Recently, academics from a range of fields, including Psychology, Criminology, and Forensic Sciences have developed a range of new methods and tests to assist with police investigations. The current paper outlines a novel approach to assisting with police cold case investigations: Crime Script Sequencing. The new method combines two leading temporal methods, Crime Script Analysis and Behaviour Sequence Analysis. A real-world cold case, the bombing of Canadian Pacific Airlines Fight 21, is presented and analysed using Crime Script Sequencing to offer readers a guide of how to use the method for other investigations. Impacts, insights, and potential future developments of the method are outlined

A Behaviour Sequence Analysis of Serial Killers’ Lives:From Childhood Abuse to Methods of Murder

The aim of the current research was to provide a new method for mapping the developmental sequences of serial killers’ life histories. The role of early childhood abuse, leading to types of serial murder and behaviours involved in the murders, was analysed using Behaviour Sequence Analysis. A large database (n = 233) of male serial killers with known childhood abuse (physical, sexual, or psychological) was analysed according to typologies and crime scene behaviours. Behaviour Sequence Analysis was used to show significant links between behaviours and events across their lifetime. Sexual, physical, and psychological abuse often led to distinct crime scene behaviours. The results provide individual accounts of abuse types and behaviours. The present research highlights the importance of childhood abuse as a risk factor for serial killers’ behaviours, and provides a novel and important advance in profiling serial killers and understanding the sequential progression of their life histories

Track D Social Science, Human Rights and Political Science

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138414/1/jia218442.pd

Workshop on behaviour sequence analysis methods

No abstract availabl

Sequence analysis of driving under the influence of alcohol

Oral presentatio

Understanding patterns of action: A guide to using sequence analysis

Workshop presentatio

A workshop on Behaviour Sequence Analysis in Psychology

A workshop on how to use BSA in research from crime and forensics to health and social psychology

Workshop: Behaviour sequence analysis in Forensic Psychology

No abstract availabl

Symposium: Sequence analysis approaches to discovering hidden temporal patterns in behaviour

Studying behaviour outside of the laboratory is often difficult as information may be incomplete, idiosyncratic, fragmented, partly qualitative, and rapidly changing. Developing methods to detect and analyse the non-random, syntactic structure of behaviour allows researchers to understand and predict future behaviours. This symposium will provide a series of talks centred around Sequence Analysis methods, which allow the progression of real-world, complex behaviours (both animal and human) to be mapped and understood. The symposium will begin with a brief outline of the basic approach of Lag-Sequence Analysis (LSA), aimed at those with no prior experience or knowledge of Sequence Analysis research. This talk will also focus on Indicator Waves, a novel method of sequencing multiple, concurrent behaviours across time. The second talk will explain the use of proximity coefficients to analyse the interrelationships among sequences of behaviours within and between cases. Using examples from law enforcement interactions, the talk will show how this approach opens up conventional inference testing across variables that distinguish different sequences. The final talks will outline the T-System Approach in Sequence Analysis. The T-System is a formally defined set of probabilistic patterns of relations between behaviours or events on a discrete time scale. This may seem quite similar to LSA; however, the T-System approach allows for much more sophisticated, hierarchical analyses of sequential and concurrent behaviour over time. These complex T-System analyses will be clearly explained to show how hidden behavioural relationships can be detected, which would be impossible with traditional LSA methods. The T-Systems talks will include novel, extended analysis of T-Pattern sets for the new T-prediction and T-retrodiction. In addition, the newly updated THEME software, with increased speed of large dataset analysis, will be outlined, with applications to big data. Finally, drawing from the literature, examples will be provided on how the T-System approach can be applied to research in human and non-human samples. The symposium will end with a discussion and evaluation of which method is best for particular research questions or approaches, and the future of all these methods will be discussed