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Psychological Theories Of Domestic Terrorism

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Steven Carriere
Excelsior College Explain the criminological, sociological, and psychological theories that may contribute to domestic terrorism. Study data provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigations show interesting sociological patterns between male and female domestic terrorists from the 1960’s and 1970’s decades. Right wing terrorists typically were males with blue collar employment experience and some college education, with stark social class differences in the leadership structure of right-wing groups, while left wing terrorists were more female oriented and held a higher level of college education completion than right wingers (Victoroff, 2005; Handler, 1990). Examples of the differences between right-wing and left-wing domestic terror incidents involving U.S. citizens include Patricia Hearst, who was kidnapped in 1974 by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) and eventually joined forces before most of her captors were killed in a shootout (Hixson, 2005). Although Timothy McVeigh was convicted for committing the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, his …show more content…
S. (1990). Socioeconomic profile of an American terrorist: 1960s and 1970s. Terrorism 13:195-213. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/ 10576109008435831
Hixson, W.L. (2005). Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst Robert Stone. The Journal Of American History, (3), 1113. doi:10.2307/3660156
Mullins, S. (2009). Parallels between crime and terrorism: A social psychological perspective. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 32:811-830. doi: 101080/ 10576100903109776
Ten Year Arrest Trends (2010). Crime in the United States. Retrieved from https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10tbl33.xls
Victoroff, J. (2005). The Mind of the Terrorist: A Review and Critique of Psychological Approaches. Journal Of Conflict Resolution, 49(1), 3-42. Retrieved from

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