ABSTRACT
Correctional policies for Islamist violent extremist offenders are often based on the premise that prisons can be hotbeds of radicalization. The perception that inmates are susceptible to violent extremist belief systems has given rise to a fervent international public, political, and scholarly debate and has led to the introduction of drastic, often expensive policies to counter the threat of prison radicalization. But is the introduction of these policies justified?
A key question is whether violent extremist offenders should be concentrated in separate high-security prisons, or whether they should be integrated into the mainstream inmate population. Prisoner Radicalization and Terrorism Detention Policy argues that concentration strategies to manage violent extremist offenders are often flawed – based on untested, potentially false assumptions that are rooted in fear rather than in facts. Little academic evidence has been produced that can valuably inform policy making in this area. As a result, policies to detain violent extremist offenders may be inadequately tailored to achieve their objectives, and could even lead to an intensification of the violent extremist threat.
This book is the first to present a detailed and systematic case study of the decision-making and implementation process behind terrorism detention policy. It will be essential reading for students, scholars and policymakers researching criminal justice, terrorism and extremism.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |9 pages
Prisoner radicalization and terrorism detention policy
part |35 pages
The making of terrorism detention policy
chapter |4 pages
Introduction to the Dutch terrorism detention strategy
chapter |12 pages
Agenda setting and policy preparation
chapter |17 pages
The terrorism wing in theory
part |40 pages
Theoretical and empirical observations on prisoner radicalization
chapter |16 pages
A theory of prisoner radicalization
chapter |22 pages
Terrorists in the inmate hierarchy
part |37 pages
Terrorism detention policy in practice
chapter |18 pages
The target population
chapter |14 pages
The prison regime
chapter |3 pages
Recapitulation
part |66 pages
Captivated by fear