Ex-pirates in Somalia : disengagement processes and reintegration programming

This study addresses how and why individuals in Somalia get involved in piracy activities, and how and why some of these individuals eventually disengage from such criminal groups. Based on qualitative interviews with 16 ex-pirates and pirate associates and a number of other locals and experts, the study provides first-hand insights into some of the conditions, circumstances and processes which may serve to discourage involvement and continued engagement in piracy. Furthermore, it analyzes factors and circumstances which may encourage and facilitate disengagement from these criminal activities and reintegration into non-criminal economic activities and social relationships. The lack of employment and livelihood motivated individuals to engage in piracy. However, disappointment about the lack of expected profit, coupled with the prospect of a licit income, influenced some to end their piracy involvement. Another important factor were the strong statements by local Muslim leaders that piracy was haram (forbidden). This was often reinforced by family and community objections to their involvement in piracy. Family members also played important roles in facilitating their disengagement. The study is assessing some aspects of the “Alternative Livelihood to Piracy” project and its role in facilitating disengagement from piracy

Trusler og trusselhendelser mot politikere: En spørreundersøkelse blant norske stortingsrepresentanter og regjeringsmedlemmer

I hvilken grad har norske stortingsrepresentanter og regjeringsmedlemmer blitt utsatt for uønsket og truende oppførsel og faktiske angrep? Hvilke konsekvenser får slike truende hendelser for deres privatliv og politiske virke? Dette er sentrale spørsmål i den første kartleggingsstudien av dette i Norge

Ex-Pirates in Somalia : processes of engagement, disengagement and reintegration

During the last decade piracy outside the Somali coast has become an increasing problem – not only for international shipping companies but also for many affected local communities in Somalia. This study will address how and why individuals in Somalia get involved in piracy activities, and how and why some of these individuals eventually disengage from these criminal groups and activities. Based on qualitative interviews with 16 ex-pirates and pirate associates and a number of other locals and experts, the study provides first-hand insights into some of the conditions, circumstances and processes which may serve to discourage involvement and continued engagement in piracy. It will also analyze factors and circumstances which may encourage and facilitate disengagement from these criminal activities and reintegration into non-criminal economic activities and social relationships. A question of interest is whether the decisions to join and leave a piracy group are made by the individuals alone or are influenced by others, such as family members and peers. The roles of moral authorities like religious leaders and parents are also a core issue. The chaotic political and economic situation in Somalia provides the context for the choices individuals make in relation to piracy. However, the focus of this study is on micro and meso (individual and group) level processes rather than on macro level factors, which have been covered well by other researchers. The article also looks at the Norwegian Church Aid’s “Alternative Livelihood to Piracy” (ALP) project. This is not an evaluation of the ALP project as such. This study will rather analyse to what extent the project is facilitating the disengagement of individuals from piracy groups and their eventual reintegration into productive non-criminal livelihood in the Somali context

The Term ‘Lone Wolf’ and its Alternatives: Patterns of Public and Academic Use from 2000 to 2020

Prominent cases of terror attacks planned and perpetrated by individuals have generated an ongoing public and academic debate about how to understand this phenomenon. The moniker “lone wolf” stands at the center of this debate. In this Research Note, we highlight three overarching points of criticism levelled at the use of this term: one conceptual, one normative and one empirical. While the solution to the latter problem primarily lies in being stringent, proposed solutions for the first two problems involved the exchange of the metaphor “lone wolf” with terms such as “lone actor” and “solo terrorist”. This Research Note focuses on patterns in public, popular cultural and academic use of “lone wolf” as well as the proposed alternatives “lone actor” and “solo terrorist”. It does so by utilizing data from Google Trends, Google Books Ngram Viewer and Google Scholar for the period 2000 to 2020. Trends in Google searches across the world indicate a moderate increase in public attention whereas using English language literature as a proxy for popular cultural attention shows a steady increase. Finally, academic use of the term “lone wolf” exploded in the aftermath of the July 22, 2011 terror attacks and has remained at high levels ever since. Among the proposed alternatives to “lone wolf”, only “lone actor” has truly gained academic prominence. While overcoming some of the issues with the “lone wolf” metaphor, patterns in the data indicate that the neutrality and abstract nature of the term “lone actor” also comes with some drawbacks. To help counteract this, we suggest that researchers avoid using shorthand versions and consistently use the full term “lone actor terrorist”.publishedVersio

Forebygging av terrorisme og annen kriminalitet

Rapporten setter samfunnets bekjempelse av terrorisme inn i et helhetlig kriminalitetsforebyggende perspektiv. Den klargjør hvilke grunnleggende strategier som kan brukes for å forebygge at terrorhandlinger gjennomføres. Her tenkes det på forebygging i en bred betydning av ordet: å hindre at (nye) terrorhandlinger skjer i fremtiden, eller å redusere antallet og alvorligheten av slike handlinger. For å oppnå dette, er det nødvendig å få de positive forebyggende virkemidlene og de mer repressive strafferettslige virkemidlene til å virke i samme retning, uten å undergrave hverandre. Rapporten består av to selvstendige studier som tematisk og analytisk har en indre sammenheng. Tore Bjørgos bidrag etablerer en helhetlig modell for kriminalitetsforebygging, anvendelig for de fleste kriminalitetstyper, men som her anvendes på kriminalitetsformen terrorisme. Studien identifiserer ni forebyggende mekanismer: Bygge normative barrierer, avskrekking, avverging, uskadeliggjøring, beskytte sårbare mål, redusere gevinster, redusere skade, redusere rekruttering, og rehabilitering. For hver av disse forebyggingsmekanismene spesifiseres det hvem som er målgruppen, hvilke virkemidler som kan brukes for å utløse mekanismen, hvilke aktører som har ansvar for implementering, samt styrkene og de utilsiktede bivirkningene ved de ulike virkemidlene. Tor-Geir Myhrers bidrag tar – fra en juridisk synsvinkel – for seg straffens mulige forebyggende virkninger generelt og overfor terrorisme spesielt. Dette analyseres innenfor det samme rammeverk som benyttes i mer tradisjonelle forebyggende teori. De mulige forebyggende effekter av straffen deles derfor i tre hovedgrupper som igjen deles i tre: Tre virkninger som retter seg mot befolkningen som helhet, tre som primært er myntet på risikogrupper og tre som har mindre problemgrupper som mål. Analysen viser at det ikke noen prinsipiell motsetning mellom mer tradisjonell forebygging og straffeforfølgning, men at det er ulike strategier for å nå det samme mål: Bekjempe eller redusere kriminaliteten

Trygghet i det offentlige rom : i åtte norske kommuner og bydeler

I hvilken grad er folk trygge i lokalsamfunnet sitt, og hva er det som fører til utrygghet? Rapporten behandler disse, og flere andre sider av temaet trygghet i lokalsamfunnet. Forfatterne har et særlig fokus på trygghet i forbindelse med kriminalitet i det offentlige rom. Rapporten er tredelt og bygger på en gjennomgang av eksisterende forskning om befolkningens (u)trygghetsopplevelse, en spørreundersøkelse blant innbyggerne i åtte norske kommuner/bydeler samt intervjuer med kommuneansatte, politi og innbyggere på fire av stedene. Undersøkelsen forteller at det er et klart mindretall av de spurte som oppfatter kriminalitet som et stort problem i sin kommune, og utrygghet ved ferdsel ute om kvelden er noe de færreste opplever. Det er imidlertid kjønns- og aldersforskjeller i opplevelse av trygghet, og likeledes ser det også ut som om befolkningstetthet og urbanitet spiller en rolle for opplevd trygghet i lokalsamfunnene

Kunnskapsutvikling i politiet : Forskningskonferansen 2006

Hvordan kan kunnskap om politiet og dets virke bidra til å bedre kvaliteten i politiets arbeid? Hvordan stimulerer man til økt kunnskapsutvikling i politiet? På hvilke måter kan slik kunnskap utvikles, og hvilke praktiske og etiske utfordringer står man overfor i den forbindelse? Dette var de grunnleggende problemstillingene for Politihøgskolens forskningskonferanse 2006. I denne rapporten presenteres en rekke prosjekter i og utenfor politiet som bidrar til å belyse disse problemstillingene på en konkret og informativ måte

Perspectives of police science in Europe : final report

In 2005, a project group on a European Approach to Police Science was established. The aim of the group was to obtain a common understanding of Police Science and Research. Six police experts from different backgrounds (law, social anthropology, psychology, political science, sociology and criminology) made-up the project group and the final report was completed in April 2007. The publication of this final report is intended to be a starting point for an intensive further discussion of this topic in a much broader dimension and will include internal and external experts from different research disciplines and all European countries. It may support new initiatives for common and comparative projects, programmes, conferences and other activities bringing researchers, research institutes and trainers, training institutions and operational services closer together

Revolutionaries, wanderers, converts, and compliants: Life histories of extreme right activists

Life-history interviews were conducted with thirty-six extreme right activists in the Netherlands (1996-1998). Becoming an activist was a matter of continuity, of conversion, or of compliance. Continuity denotes life histories wherein movement membership and participation are a natural consequence of prior political socialization; conversion to trajectories wherein movement membership and participation are a break with the past; and compliance to when people enter activism, not owing to personal desires but because of circumstances they deemed were beyond their control. Stories of continuity in our interviews were either testimonies of lifetimes of commitment to extreme right politics (labeled revolutionaries) or lifelong journeys from one political shelter to the other by political wanderers (labeled converts). Activists who told us conversion stories, we labeled converts and those who told compliance stories, compliants. The article presents a prototypical example of each type of career and suggests each prototype to hold for different motivational dynamics. © 2007 Sage Publications

Herausforderung Deradikalisierung: Einsichten aus Wissenschaft und Praxis

Ver­glichen mit dem Themen­kom­plex "Ra­di­ka­li­sierung" wurde "De­ra­di­ka­lisierung" in der Wissen­schaft bis­her eher zweit­rangig be­handelt. Dieser Report ar­beitet sys­te­ma­tisch die zentralen Er­kennt­nisse aus der the­o­re­tischen Literatur und aus der De­ra­di­ka­lisierungs­praxis auf. Es zeigt sich, dass zentrale Akteure aus Praxis, Wissen­schaft, (Sicher­heits-)Be­hörden und Politik nicht nur unter­schied­liche De­fi­ni­tionen ver­wenden, es herrscht auch keine Einig­keit da­rüber, was De­ra­di­ka­lisierung (praktisch) zu be­deuten hat. Hinzu kommt, dass die Träger­land­schaft der Ex­tre­mis­mus­prä­ven­tion in Deutsch­land so divers ist wie das fö­de­rale System der Bundes­re­publik. Das in Deutsch­land be­steh­ende Hybrid­mo­dell aus staat­lichen und zivil­gesell­schaft­lichen Zu­stän­dig­keiten sowie die Viel­falt an An­sätzen und Pro­filen der Beratenden können, bei richtiger Ak­zen­tu­ierung, als Chance für die Arbeit ge­wertet werden. Der Report schließt mit ent­sprech­enden Hand­lungs­em­pfehlungen für Ent­scheidungs­trägerinnen und -träger