Social-psychology profile of terrorist leaders in Israeli prisons

• Main Author: Yehoshua, Sagit
• Published: King's College London (University of London) 2013
• Subjects: 303.6
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.634181

The aim of this study is to investigate the Social-psychology profile of terrorist leaders in Israeli prisons. The research was conducted with the cooperation of the Intelligence Department of the Israeli Prison System. The study is qualitative and was conducted through in-depth interviews with leaders of terrorist organisations in prisons around Israel. A total of 18 Palestinian leaders were interviewed in several prisons around the country. The participants were leaders of major terrorist organisations in Israel: Fatah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The research focuses on five main themes: 1. Social influence factors: Adolescence, family, social surroundings, the organisation and their influence on the leader's adjustment to imprisonment. 2. Personality profile of the leaders and whether they have symptoms of a psychopathic personality based on Hare psychopathy check list (PCLSV) 3. Mindset: General perspectives such as rationalisations for committing terrorist acts, perceptions towards the victims, Israeli society and their actions in relation to the conflict. 4. Leadership profile: What kind of leaders are they? How do they perceive this position? How do they see their conduct and achievements as leaders? Would they want to continue their leadership position outside of prison? 5. Imprisonment: the effect of the prison experience and their radicalisation or de-radicalisation process. The main findings of this research suggest that the leaders of terrorist groups in Israeli prisons are going through a unique process while incarcerated, that psychopathic personality profile was found among them and their rationalisations for carrying out the terrorist acts are quite varied. Furthermore, the findings of this study highlight the importance of the aspects of social surrounding and culture on the prisoner’s mind-set and conduct, as well as on their adjustment to imprisonment and their radicalisation or deradicalisation process.