ABSTRACT
Terrorism is ambiguous: it unsettles victim states as they must search for an appropriate means of response, or determine if any response is legitimate. Because there is no cohesive enumeration of appropriate responses to terrorist acts in the international system,1 individual states have developed internal mechanisms for dealing with terrorists through criminal laws.2 However, as noted in Chapter 2, frequently these internal mechanisms are the result of treaty agreements3 and the system remains weak owing to the reality that terrorists may evade capture in the same way other criminals do – by exploiting faulty extradition treaties and weaknesses in law enforcement.4 The uncertain nature of permissible countermeasures against international terrorism within the international system means that the efficacy of domestic criminal laws is weakened in the face of transnational terrorist groups whose membership and conspiracy may spread across many borders.5
