Posted: May 13th, 2021

History of Antiterrosism Criminology

History of Antiterrorism

Introduction
There are various definitions and descriptions that are appended to the term terrorism. Many anti terror agencies in the United States as well as other organisations in the world have not come up with a common definition to this term. However, all agree that it involves the use of violence and threats to inspire fear which is done to perpetuate a certain ideology which could be political, religious, and social among others. The term terrorist is derived from the word terror which means fear.
Terrorist (people involved in committing acts of terror) have been seen to have some aspects that are common. They often target unarmed groups and non combatants which in most cases are the civilians and neutral army. Additionally, they purport to represent a certain group of people which they can’t show. Another common trend is that they try to infiltrate the available systems and fight from within.
Terrorism is not a new concept, the earliest acts that can be described as acts of terrorism dates back to the first century AD from a group of people referred to as the Zealots of Judea. These people were described by the Romans as the dagger men and carried out secret campaign that slowly assassinated the roman forces. They were also belied to have assassinated the Jewish leaders who they though collaborated with the roman rulers (Lutz & Lutz, 2007). However, subsequent and present day forms of terrorism seem to lack any form of positive motive. Scholars argue that zealots were probably fighting for their survival due to the oppressive Roman rule. Modern day terrorism seems to be forcing only on destruction of life and property without any justifiable reason. Nevertheless, other forms of terrorism are thought to have evolved from Zealots.

The Beginning of Terrorism in the U.S
Due to lack of a conclusive definition of the term terrorism as well as a range of actions and activities that can be classified in to this group, it is rather challenging to state exactly when and where the first terrorist attack happened in the US. This makes it particularly difficult to pinpoint or single out one event as an act of terrorism. For instance, some scholars argue that the first ever terrorist attack in the US happened on the seventh of November the year 1837 where slavery abolitionist Elijah P Lovejoy was killed by a pro-slavery mob.
Later in the year 1856, what is now referred to as Pattowatomie Massacre happened where a group of abolitionists led by John Brown murdered five pro-slavery people in Kansas. Abolitionists did this as an act of revenge due to several attacks made by the pro-slavery people. They hoped it would deter pro-slavery from carrying out further attacks. However, most scholars and analysts agree that the first terrorist attack on the US was the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre in the fourteenth April of 1865. This assassination was enough to wreak terror in all other outspoken slavery abolitionist in the US. Additionally, had the whole conspiracy succeeded, the vice-president and the secretary of state would have been eliminated as well. By doing this, the ‘terrorists’ would have caused enough terror to overthrow the federal government. However, they still succeeded in watering down the spirit of abolitionists and slowing down the rate of anti-slavery movement.
From the above three events, it’s safe to say that terrorism in the United State started in the early to the mid nineteenth century. This is a period in which some people felt a need to use fear to drive their motive and ideology. It is important to note that legitimate way of bringing change in the American system was through a public vote or through other legal procedures outlined in the US constitution. The above statement justifies that the acts such as the assassination of abolitionists that were done to intimidate other abolitionists with an aim of forcing them to drop their course was indeed a terror activity. This culminated in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by pro-slavery leaders. It is argued that this was a major setback to the abolitionist even though they chose to stay focused until they achieved their objective (Lutz & Lutz, 2007).
Other terrorist events include the Haymarket affair where an unidentified person detonated a bomb killing a police officer and injuring several civilians. This event in Chicago prompted protest and even more shooting that left seven more police officers dead and almost a hundred injured.
Other people fail to classify all the above events as terrorist activities due to their general belief that that terrorist activities or only the ones that are not motivated by the ideologies of the American people. According to them, the first terrorist attack in America is the assassination of President William McKinley by Leon Czolgosc in New York in sixth September 1901. According to them, the assailant was a Russian-polish and was propagating a state of anarchy which is not an ideology of American people. So they conclude that he can be seen as the first ‘real terrorist’ to attack America (Crenshaw, 1995).
The Prime Motivators of Terrorists throughout U.S. History
The motive of the terrorist in the American history has been very clear and common. All of them seem to have been fighting a losing battle. They all seem to have been supporting a course that was unpopular and which could not survive in the American democracy. One of such examples is the pro-slavery groups who organised themselves in groups to attach slavery abolitionists. They knew that the ideology of slavery had become unpopular with the masses and had to be done away with. Due to this, they had to employ desperate means such as terror in order to intimidate abolitionist.
A good example of this includes the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. The pro-slavery group thought that by killing one strong and vocal abolitionist, all the rest would be intimidated and probably abandon their course. This was followed by the Ku Klux Klan that wreaked terror on abolitionist and black people to intimidate people in order to continue with slavery. Another group of terrorists can be seen as people who had ideologies that were not American in origin. Such may include the anarchist, the communists and the Islamic extremists.
One of the terrorist that was very popular in the turn of the twentieth century was the anarchist Leon Czolgosc who was Russian-polish, born and raised in Michigan. The motive of this terrorist was to promote anarchism in the united state. For some reason, he and others at his time saw propagation of anarchism in the US a tall order using the vote and other legitimate procedures. So he imagined that by killing the president, the law and order would be replaced automatically by self rule.
The above scenarios are seen in the better part of the twentieth century where anarchist and other groups have been seen to launch attacks in various public places such as the Wall Street, market places among others. Their motive seems to be to stir some form of unrest in the public that would force the government to adopt such ideologies (Anzovin, 2006 – Write a paper; Professional research paper writing service – Best essay writers). Many people reason that such attacks would intimidate the masses making them to adopt such ideas while others thought that the government’s reaction to such people may have seem to be extreme which might have caused masses to sympathize with the terrorists hence advancing their(terrorists’) course.
The motive of Muslim extremists seems to be forcing people to adopt Islam through intimidation. This coincides with the mode of operation of other terrorists in that intimidation is at the centre of their campaign. Others terrorists try to express their dislike for American democracy and its widespread adoption in the world. It is important that America is viewed by the world as the symbol of order and democracy. All the terrorist groups have a common motive to punish the US for being a symbol of order, equality and freedom as opposed to anarchy and dictatorship which is the course advanced by terrorists.
Types of Terror Methods and Technology that have been Used and their Purpose
The methods used by the terrorist have a lot in come. In the history of the US, the terrorists have short, burnt down or exploded their targets. Shooting is the mode that has been commonly adopted by the terrorists’ assassins. The reason for choosing this mode is because of its speed. It is very easy to use and the results are almost assured while still having remarkable accuracy. It is also important to note that it is the only mode of killing available in this age with the combination of all the above advantages while still being cheap (Anzovin, 2006 – Write a paper; Professional research paper writing service – Best essay writers).
On the other hand, burning down a target is used by terrorist to show extreme anger and malice. This mode was adopted by pro-slavery terrorists and even the Ku Klux Klan. Fire is crude and painful way of killing and therefore was used to inspire a lot of fear among the abolitionist especially due to indiscriminate and vast damage that it causes. With time, the extent of fire damage could be reduced through efficient fire fighting mechanisms. And still, gun laws became stricter limiting gun access to potentially dangerous people. Additionally, the clip capacity and the calibre reduced over time. For this reason, terrorists had to invent or adopt a method that is very efficient, scary and devastating.
For this reason, the use of bombs and explosives became very popular with terrorist. Since the Haymarket explosion in the in Chicago to the Wall Street bombing in the Wall Streets to even the world trade centre attack in the wake of the twenty-first century, terrorist have devised the most explosive materials and methods to kill, maim and destroy life and property.
The reason of using bombs and explosive is to execute their mayhem in the shortest time possible and to minimise the possibility of the process being stopped, explosions happen in split seconds and people are left reckoning the loss. Explosions are the modern way of burning down. However, they are very first and devastating and nothing can be done once the explosion has begun. Explosives and explosions also destroy structures and symbols that are well saved in peoples mind (Laqueur, 2007). For that reason, their use causes a great trauma even to people who are not affected primarily by the explosion. The destroyed structures and symbols such as the World Trade Centre in the September 11 becomes a constant reminder to people whose life s were touched in any way as well as those who knew the magnificence of that structure (symbol) before the attack. Terrorists use this method so as to permanently affect peoples’ lives in a profoundly adverse way.
The Common Themes and/or Unique Characteristics from Previous Terror Events in History around the World that have been used in the U.S.
One common theme of terrorists around the world as well as the US is that they use fear to popularize the ideologies of the minority. One characteristic of these ideologies is that they are extreme and are meant to benefit only a few. An example of such ideologies is the anarchy which favours the elite.
Another of their popular theme is that they often use destruction of life and property to advance their agenda. Killing and destruction of property becomes their main aspect of campaign, they commonly kill unarmed innocent people and especially civilians. They show no tolerance to people with different opinion. Their primary motif seems to be the unification of the whole population under their ideology. All terrorists in history have shown some commonality in assassination or elimination of leaders. This characteristic is seen in the earliest form of terrorist seen with Zealots that killed leaders of Roman military as well as the Jewish leaders that were seen to collaborate with them. This is seen with the killing of Abraham Lincoln by pro -slavery and William McKinley by an anarchist.
However, in the nineteenth century, the form of terrorism seen in America is distinctly different from any other form in the world. This is because both the terrorists and the victims are all Americans. It is easy to see that this form of terrorism in America was done by groups that were feeling more Americans than their victims or by people who were seeking for ‘recognition’. For this reason, some abolitionists used terror against their pro-slavery fellows. Abolitionist carried out attacks to seek revenge or to intimidate their opponents from attacking them. On the other hand, the pro-slavery group used terror toward the abolitionist with an aim of intimidating them to abandon their course.
Another unique characteristic seen with recent terror activities in the recent history is that the terrorist’s motive is to teach the US a lesson or to ‘revenge’ for crimes that cannot be quantified or descried. The theme of the zealots was to survive. They hoped to defeat the Romans with a view to enhance their chances of survival from oppressive Romans. However, the twentieth century has seen the US attacked for the reason of intimidating the world. The terrorist of today only seem interested to affect the global political balance through gaining more relevance through their action. This has made the US to swing into action to fight potential terrorists and their financiers and sympathizers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the US as well as the whole globe is now faced with a more eminent terror threat than ever before. The terrorists have become more and more sophisticated and have obtained many sympathizers in the modern world. The reasons and the motive for terrorists have become almost anything and some seems to join terrorists even before deciding what to do with it. The US is probably the country with longest history of the struggle with terrorism both internal and external (Crenshaw, 1995).
In the entire situation, the country has been able to rise above the devastating acts of terrorism. One of the landmark terrorist activities in the US is the September eleven 2001. The American people reacted to this in a better way than they did to any other attack before. They stood united against the terrorist which helped the government to have a better time to hunt the terrorist.
The previous response of the American members of the public to a terrorist attack involved demonstrations and sometimes revenge against the suspected perpetrators. This worsened the situation and acts of lawlessness increased in a profound way. This characteristic was seen in the nineteenth century. However, the authorities have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to contain the public as well as to bring the culprits to book over the years. This has inspired incredible public confidence as well as restraint to a point where the worst attack in 2001 left the public calm and confident that criminals would be found and punished.

Reference
Lutz, B. J., & Lutz, J. M. (2007). Terrorism in America. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Crenshaw, M. (1995). Terrorism in context. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State
University Press.
Laqueur, W. (2007). Terrorism. Boston: Little, Brown.
Anzovin, S. (2006 – Write a paper; Professional research paper writing service – Best essay writers). Terrorism. New York: H.W. Wilson.

Historical Roots (i.e., when and where did terrorism begin in the U.S.?) 2. Motives (i.e., what were the prime motivators of terrorists throughout U.S. history?) 3. Methods (i.e., what types of terror methods and technology have been used, for what purpose?) 4. Historical Context (i.e., what worldly events precipitated major terrorist activities in the United States?) 5. What common themes and/or unique characteristics from previous terror events in history around the world that have been used in the U.S. * Don’t forget to provide a minimum 200 word introduction and conclusion to your paper. Write in narrative form, do not use bullets. I encourage you to use reputable outside sources to complete this assignment. Use APA format to document these sources. Your research paper should be single-spaced, using Times or Times New Roman, 12-point font. Margins of your paper should be one-inch (1″) on all sides. Do not copy information from any assigned articles or other sources. Your job is to read, identify important themes and/or concepts and provide, in your own words, a comprehensive review of main categories listed below. You should take detailed notes and organize your notes prior to drafting your assignment. Your grade will be based on the following criteria:
1. Use of proper format (i.e., single-spaced, Times or Times Roman, 12-point font, etc.)
2. Sufficiency of information (Length: minimum 400 words/maximum 600 words for each sub-topic; minimum 2,400 words for the final paper)
3. Ability to explain the primary theme and major concepts of each of the noted sub-topic areas
4. Ability to synthesize information
5. Ability to properly research and cite/refer to accurate conceptual points
6. Technical writing skills (spelling, grammar, etc.) Proper referencing and citation of credible literary sources

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