Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T13:09:23.746Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can self-destructive killers be classified so easily?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2014

Vincent Egan
Vincent Egan*
Affiliation:
Centre for Family and Forensic Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Applied Psychology, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus, Nottingham NG8 1BB, United Kingdom. [email protected]://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/about/psychiatryandappliedpsychology/people/vincent.egan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lankford makes many useful points regarding the myths and shibboleths underlying our understanding of self-destructive killers and suicide bombers. He has collated an impressive data set on such offenders. However, his classification scheme is not built on sufficient evidence to support his proposed discrete categories of conventional, coerced, escapist, and indirect suicide terrorists. It would be straightforward to analyse the data, but it is unlikely that the resulting model would reflect that anticipated.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 365 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Egan, V. (2011) Individual differences and antisocial behaviour. In: Handbook of individual differences, ed. Furnham, A., von Stumm, S., & Petredies, K., pp. 512–37. Blackwell-Wiley.Google Scholar
Egan, V., Austin, E., Elliot, D., Patel, D. & Charlesworth, C. (2003) Personality traits, personality disorders and sensational interests in mentally disordered offenders. Legal and Criminological Psychology 8:51–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Egan, V., Cole, J., Cole, B., Alison, L. & Alison, E. (under review) Can you identify people vulnerable to violent extremism using a screening checklist and open-source intelligence? Journal of Threat Assessment.Google Scholar
Egan, V., McMurran, M., Richardson, C. & Blair, M. (2000) Criminal cognitions and personality: what does the PICTS really measure? Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 10(3):170–84.Google Scholar
Kennedy, M. A., Klein, C., Bristowe, J. T. K., Cooper, B. S. & Yuille, J. C. (2007) Routes of recruitment: Pimps' techniques and other circumstances that lead to street prostitution. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma 15(2):1–19.Google Scholar
Lankford, A. (2013c) The myth of martyrdom: What really drives suicide bombers, rampage shooter, and other self-destructive killers. Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Ohnuki-Tierney, E. (2007) Kamikaze diaries: Reflections of Japanese student soldiers. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Saetnan, A. R. (2007) Nothing to hide, nothing to fear? Assessing technologies for diagnosis of security risks. International Criminal Justice Review 17(3):193–206.Google Scholar
Yang, M., Wong, S. C. P. & Coid, J. (2010) The efficacy of violence prediction: A meta-analytic comparison of nine risk assessment tools. Psychological Bulletin 136(5):740–67. doi:10.1037/a0020473.Google Scholar