ABSTRACT
Someone with ASD being involved in terrorism is rare and not well understood. This is mainly the result of very little research investigating the association between ASD and the engagement in terroristic behaviours. Al-Attar (2016a, 2016b) has outlined the role that autistic special interests, fantasy, obsessionality, the need for routine/predictability, social and communication difficulties, cognitive styles, local coherence, systemizing, and sensory processing may play in terrorism pathways and modus operandi. It is crucial that there is “an understanding of the individual’s autistic functioning and how it may contextualise factors that push them towards terrorism and aspects of terrorism that may pull them in, in order to manage and reduce risk” when terrorist acts are planned or executed by individuals with ASD (Al-Attar, 2020, pp. 926). There has been some research exploring how ASD can ‘contextualise vulnerability and risk’ (Faccini & Allely, 2017; Al-Attar, 2016a, 2016b, 2018b, 2018c, 2019; Al-Attar, 2020, pp. 926). In this chapter, we will explore the research which has explored how ASD can provide the context of vulnerability to engaging in terroristic behaviours. Three case studies are provided. Lastly, a number of key recommendations are outlined to help guide forensic interviewers working with terrorism suspects and offenders who have ASD.
