Terrorism : exploring criminology theories

Abstract EN

The study of terrorism is relatively new in Criminology.

Terrorism has been extensively researched and discussed in political science, policy studies, international relations and law.

The dearth of literature on terrorism in Criminology has prompted Richard Rosenfeld, a renowned professor in Criminology to write “Why Criminologists should study terrorism?” in The Criminologist, the official newsletter of the American Society of Criminology at the end of 2002.

After September 11, 2001, there is more interest in studying terrorism as a criminal phenomenon.

More research and publications in this topic are being carried out in the area of Criminology.

This paper surveys existing literature on terrorism in Criminology as well as Sociology of Deviance.

Discussions that have been brought up include studying terrorism as another form of criminal behavior, defining it as a political and/or violent crime and using structural and rational choice theories to explain the criminogenic behavior.

This paper will conclude with showing the important relevance of Criminology in studying terrorism and introducing other possible criminology theories that could be used to explain the phenomenon.