ABSTRACT
On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked and flew two commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. In one fell swoop, they killed nearly 3,000 innocent people. The violence and death following this terrible attack has dwarfed much of the interest and research into “ordinary” street and family violence. Despite this, research on violence and its causes is not irrelevant to an understanding of what causes terrorism. Although much is motivated by extreme political or social views, some individuals are undoubtedly drawn to radical terrorist groups by their potential to offer opportunities to behave very violently.
