Radicalisation and travelling to Syria among delinquent youths: A case study from the Netherlands

Authors

  • Rudie J.M. Neve Netherlands Police
  • Frank M. Weerman Netherlands Study Centre for Crime and Law Enforcement
  • Suzan Eris Free University of Amsterdam
  • Jan Willem van Prooijen Netherlands Study Centre for Crime and Law Enforcement

Keywords:

Radicalization, Youth Group, Crime Terror Nexus, Trigger Events, Syria Travellers

Abstract

Although many studies have investigated the backgrounds of people who went to Syria to join jihadist groups, much remains unclear about the underlying radicalisation processes. Many authors have noted that radicalisation and terrorism are associated with involvement in crime (the crime-terror nexus), in particular with membership of delinquent groups. However, it is unclear how this relation can be explained. This study was designed to increase insight into how the actual radicalisation process took place in one specific youth network in the Netherlands with a high prevalence of crime, and what triggered young people from this network to get involved in travelling to Syria. Based on police records, documents and interviews, we conducted a case study in a Dutch city in which twenty people went to Syria to join jihadist groups in early 2013. Most of them were involved in a troublesome youth group in a deprived multi-ethnic neighbourhood. We trace how a subgroup of this youth group radicalised, and how they made a connection with the jihadist network in the larger region. The results suggest that not only experiences of deprivation contributed to the radicalisation process but also the presence of persons with earlier ties to the jihadist network, as well as trigger events that led to existential questions and elevated susceptibility. Marriages with radical young women involved in the sister network also seem to have contributed to an overlap between this local youth group and a wider jihadist network. Furthermore, relatively criminal members gained status in the youth group by getting involved in jihadism. The results suggest that maintaining contact with youths at risk of radicalisation should be central to local prevention efforts. Radicalisation through trigger events and recruitment by jihadist propagandists could be prevented with specifically targeted interventions.

References

Agnew, R. (2006). Storylines as a neglected cause of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 43(2), 119-147.

AIVD (2009). Local jihadist networks in the Netherlands. The Hague: General Intelligence and Security Service.

AIVD (2017). Jihadist women, a threat not to be underestimated. The Hague: General Intelligence and Security Service.

Basra, R., Neumann, P.R. & Brunner, C. (2016). Criminal pasts, terrorist futures: European Jihadists and the new crime-terror nexus. London: ICSR.

Bakker, E., & De Bont, R. (2016). Belgian and Dutch Jihadist Foreign Fighters (2012–2015): Characteristics, Motivations, and Roles in the War in Syria and Iraq. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 27(5), 837-857. doi:10.1080/09592318.2016.1209806

Bakker, E. & Grol P. (2016). Nederlandse Jihadisten, van naïeve idealisten tot geharde terroristen (Dutch jihadists, naive idealistst to hardened terroristst). Amsterdam: Hollands Diep.

Bartlett, J. & Miller, C. (2010). The power of unreason: conspiracy theories, extremism

and counter-terrorism. London: Demos.

Bergema R. & Van San, M. (2017). Waves of the Black Banner: An Exploratory Study on the Dutch Jihadist Foreign Fighter Contingent in Syria and Iraq, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2017.1404004

Coolsaet, R. (2016). Facing the fourth foreign fighter wave. What drives Europeans to Syria, and the Islamic State? Insights from the Belgian case. Brussels: Egmont- The Royal institute of International Relations.

Decker, S.H. & Pyrooz D.C. (2015). “I’m down for a Jihad”: How 100 years of gang research can inform the study of terrorism, radicalization and extremism. Perspectives on Terrorism, 9(1): 104-112.

De Jong, J.D.A. (2010). 'We houden het lekker straat' (We keep it nice and street). In: Deelman, P. (ed.) Over straatcultuur en groepsdynamiek (On street culture and group dynamics).. Dordrecht: Stichting Maatschappij, Veiligheid en Politie (pp. 13-28).

Doosje, B., Moghaddam, F.M., Kruglanski, A.W., de Wolf, A., Mann, L. & Feddes, A.R. (2016). Terrorism, radicalization and de-radicalization. Current Opinion in Psychology, 11, 79-84.

Feddes, A.R., Nickolson L.& Doosje B. (2015). Triggerfactoren in het radicaliseringsproces (Trigger factors in the radicalisation process).. Amsterdam: Expertise-unit Sociale Stabiliteit / Universiteit van Amsterdam.

Gallagher, M. (2016). ‘Criminalised’ Islamic state veterans: A future major threat in organised crime development? Perspectives on Terrorism, 10(5): 51-67.

Groen, J., & Kranenberg, A. (2006). Strijdsters van Allah: radicale moslima’s en het Hofstadnetwerk (Female warriors of Allah: radical muslimas and the ‘Hofstad’ network).. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff.

Horgan, J. (2008). From Profiles to Pathways and Roots to Routes: Perspectives from Psychology on Radicalization into Terrorism. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 618, 80-94.

Ilan, J. & S. Sandberg, S. (2019). How ‘gangsters’ become jihadists: Bourdieu, criminology and the crime–terrorism nexus. European Journal of Criminology, 16 (3), 278–294.

Kruglanski, A. W., Chen, X., Dechesne, M., Fishman, S., & Orehek, E. (2009). Fully Committed: Suicide Bombers' Motivation and the Quest for Personal Significance. Political Psychology, 30(3), 331-357. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2009.00698.x

Kruglanski, A.W., Bélanger, J.J., Gelfand, M., Gunaratna, R., Hettiarachchi, M., Reinares, F., Orehek, E., Sasota, J. & Sharvit, K. (2013). Terrorism: A (self) love story, redirecting the significance quest can end violence. American Psychologist, 68(7): 559–575.

Lakhani, S. (2018). Extreme criminals: reconstructing ideas of criminality through extremist narratives. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2018.1450613.

Ljujic, V., Van Prooijen J.W., & Weerman F. (2017). Beyond the crime-terror nexus: Socio-economic status, violent crimes and terrorism. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, 3(3), 158-172.

Manrique, P., Cao, Z., Gabriel, A., Horgan, J., Gill, P., Qi, H., Restrepo, E.M., Johnson, D., Wuchty, S., Song, C., & Johnson, N. (2016). Women’s connectivity in extreme networks, Science Advance 2, e1501742.

Moghaddam, F.M. (2005). The Staircase to Terrorism: A Psychological Exploration. American Psychologist, 60(2), 161-169.

Paulussen, C., Nijman, J., & Lismont, K. (2017). Mental Health and the Foreign Fighter Phenomenon: A Case Study from the Netherlands. Retrieved from The Hague: https://icct.nl/publication/mental-health-and-the-foreign-fighter-phenomenon-a-case-study-from-the-netherlands/

Pyrooz, D.C., LaFree, G., Decker, S.H. & James, P.A. (2018). Cut from the same cloth? A comparative study of domestic extremists and gang members in the United States. Justice Quarterly 35(1): 1-32.

Ranstorp, M. (2016). The root causes of violent extremism. Retrieved from: https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/networks/radicalisation_awareness_network/ran-papers/docs/issue_paper_root-causes_jan2016_en.pdf

Renard, T. & Coolsaet, R. (2018). Returnees: who are they, why are they (not) coming back and how should we deal with them? Assessing policies on returning foreign terrorist fighters in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Egmont-Royal Institute for International Relations.

Sacco, V. F., & Kennedy, L. W. (2002). The criminal event: Perspectives in space and time. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Sageman, M. (2008). Leaderless jihad. Terror networks in the twenty-first century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Schulten, N., Doosje, B., Spaaij, R., & Kamphuis, J.H. (2019). Psychopathologie en terrorisme: Stand van zaken, lacunes en prioriteiten voor toekomstig onderzoek (Psychopathology and terrorism: state of the art, gaps and priorities for future research).. Amsterdam: Universiteit van Amsterdam.

Thijs, F., Rodermond, E., & Weerman, F. (2018). Verdachten van terrorisme in beeld: Achtergrondkenmerken,'triggers' en eerdere politiecontacten (A picture of terrorism suspects: backgrounds, triggers and earlier police contacts). Amsterdam: NSCR.

Uyterlinden, M. & J. van der Velden (2017). Kwetsbare wijken in beeld (Vulnerable neighbourhoods). Den Haag: Platform 31.

Van den Bos, K. (2018). Why People Radicalize: How Unfairness Judgments are Used to Fuel Radical Beliefs, Extremist Behaviors, and Terrorism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Van Ham, T & Ferwerda H. (2017). Interpretation of problematic youth group behaviour. Summary. The Hague: WODC. https://www.wodc.nl/binaries/2800_Summary_tcm28-286924.pdf

Van San, M. (2015a). Striving in the Way of God: Justifying Jihad by Young Belgian and Dutch Muslims. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 1-15. doi:10.1080/1057610x.2015.1013776

Van San, M. (2015b). Lost Souls Searching for Answers? Belgian and Dutch Converts Joining the Islamic State. Perspectives on Terrorism, 9, (5), 47-56.

Van San, M. (2018). Belgian and Dutch Young Men and Women Who Joined ISIS: Ethnographic Research among the Families They Left Behind. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 41(1), 39-58. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2016.1266824

Versteegt, I., Ljujic, V., El Bouk, F., Weerman, F. & Van Maanen, F. (2018). Terrorism, adversity and identity A qualitative study of detained terrorism suspects in comparison to other detainees. Amsterdam, NSCR.

Vidino, L, Marone, F., Entenmann, E. (2017). Fear thy neighbor, radicalization and jihadist attacks in the west. Milano: Ledizioni.

Weenink, A.W. (2015). Behavioral problems and disorders among radicals in police files. Perspectives on terrorism, 9(2): 17-33.

Weenink, A. (2019). De Syriëgangers (Travellers to Syria). Driebergen: Politie, Landelijke Eenheid, DLIO.

Weggemans, D., Bakker, E. & Grol, P. (2014). Who are they and why do they go? The radicalization and preparatory processes of Dutch jihadist foreign fighters. Perspectives on Terrorism, 8(4), 100-110.

Wolfowicz, M., Litmanovitz, Y., Weisburd, D. & Hasisi, B. (2019). A field-wide systematic review and meta-analysis of putative risk and protective factors for radicalization outcomes. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. Online before print: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-019-09439-4

Downloads

Published

2020-03-25

Issue

No. 22: Spring 2020

Section

Articles

License

The JD Journal for Deradicalization uses a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND) Licence. You are free to share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following conditions: