Autism spectrum disorder, extremism and risk assessment.

BACKGROUND: To date, there is no evidence supporting the existence of an association between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and extremism in the general population. However, there is increasing recognition that several features of ASD may provide the context of vulnerability to engage in extremist behaviour. AIMS: This paper sets out the case for a dedicated clinical approach to better integrate clinical risk appraisal processes with an assessment of ASD individuals' vulnerabilities within the Criminal Justice System. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this paper the Framework for the Assessment of Risk & Protection in Offenders on the Autistic Spectrum (FARAS): A Guide for Risk Assessors Working with Offenders on the Autistic Spectrum is explored. In developing the FARAS, Al-Attar proposed seven facets of ASD that 'may have different functional links with push and pull factors to terrorism' (p. 928), which include circumscribed interests; rich vivid fantasy and impaired social imagination; need for order, rules, rituals, routine and predictability; obsessionality, repetition and collecting; social interaction and communication difficulties; cognitive styles and Sensory processing. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We describe the FARAS within the context of the most widely used clinical risk appraisal 'aide memoire' instruments integral to the Structured Professional Judgement of risk process, namely the HCR20v3.

Radicalisation studies: An emerging interdisciplinary field.

This research note provides an overview of Radicalisation Studies as an emerging interdisciplinary field aimed at developing more holistic understandings of how and why individuals and groups turn to extreme ideologies and political violence. It traces the evolution of radicalisation research across core social science disciplines, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, and political science. While this burgeoning scholarship has expanded knowledge, persistent gaps remain due to studying radicalisation in disciplinary silos. To address this fragmentation, the research note proposes an integrated Radicalisation Studies approach grounded in critical social theory and reflexivity. This paradigm synthesises concepts and mechanisms from across disciplines to investigate the complex interplay between individual vulnerabilities, group dynamics, and broader socio-political contexts in generating radicalisation. The note outlines theoretical foundations, guiding research questions, and methodological strategies for this new field focused on mixed-methods, multi-level analysis. Radicalisation Studies holds promise for advancing theoretical integration, contextualised explanations, critical perspectives on radicalisation discourse, and evidence-based preventative policies. While challenges remain in institutionalising this emerging field, Radicalisation Studies has the potential to steer research towards greater interdisciplinarity and the nuanced understandings necessary to elucidate this complex phenomenon. The research note aims to spur debate on constructing Radicalisation Studies as a viable scholarly enterprise.

Public Mental Health Approaches to Online Radicalisation: An Empty Systematic Review.

This systematic review seeks to position online radicalisation within whole system frameworks incorporating individual, family, community and wider structural influences whilst reporting evidence of public mental health approaches for individuals engaging in radical online content. METHODS: the authors searched Medline (via Ovid), PsycInfo (via Ebscohost) and Web of Science (Core Collection) with the use of Boolean operators across "extremism", "online content" and "intervention". RESULTS: Following full-text assessments, all retrieved papers were excluded. No publications fulfilled the primary objective of reporting public mental health interventions specifically addressing online radicalisation. However, six publications fulfilled the secondary objective of identifying theoretical and conceptual relationships amongst elements in the three inclusion criteria (online extremism, psychological outcomes and intervention strategy) that could inform interventions within public mental health frameworks. These publications were quality assessed and discussed following the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care guide for reporting empty reviews. CONCLUSIONS: there is an immediate need for further research in this field given the increase in different factions of radicalised beliefs resulting from online, particularly social media, usage.

Violence and Capacity to Hate.

This paper analyses two opposite relational configurations: violence and the capacity to hate. The former results in a psychic impoverishment, the latter in a psychic development. Primarily, the aspects of violence and the inability to hate within modern Western society are introduced. When a psychic fragility is unconsciously supported by an entire society, it becomes even more difficult to alleviate, and transform into a resource promoting psychic development. The second section explores the use of hate by young children in order to show the naturalness of this emotion and its origin. In the third and fourth sections, the unfortunate outcomes of the incapacity to hate, leading to violent antisocial conduct, are explored. To do so, the pioneering contributions by Melanie Klein and Donald Winnicott are commented on, followed by modern contributions by the literature: one of our articles published in 2020, and the review of the literature published by Alessandro Orsini on the topic of radicalisation. Finally, the differences between violence and the capacity to hate are highlighted and summarised. The article also emphasises numerous bibliographic references to further deepen the study on violence from a psycho-social perspective.

Ethnic and religious identities in Russian penal institutions: A case study of Uzbek Transnational Muslim prisoners.

Russia has become one of the main migration hubs worldwide following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The vast majority of migrant workers travel to Russia from three Central Asian countries. However, Russian immigration laws and policies are ambiguous and highly punitive. The result is that many migrants resort to undocumented status working in the shadow economy, which places them in a disadvantaged and precarious position. In this position they are vulnerable to becoming targets of the Russian criminal justice system as they take to crime to overcome economic uncertainty, become embroiled in interpersonal conflicts ending in violence, or fall victim to fabricated criminal charges initiated by Russian police officers under pressure to produce their monthly quota of arrests. The impact on Russian penal institutions is that they have become ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse sites as a consequence of the incarceration of growing numbers of transnational prisoners. Using person-to-person interviews conducted in Uzbekistan with men and women who served sentences in Russian penal institutions during the past two decades, we show in this article how the large-scale migratory processes have transformed Russian prisons into sites of ethnic and religious plurality, in which formal rules and informal sub-cultures - the colony regime, so-called thieves' law ( vorovskoy zakon), ethnic solidarity norms, and Sharia law - coexist and clash in new ways compared with the status quo ante. Thus, we argue there is a need to revise the prevailing understanding about the power dynamics in Russian penal institutions. Our findings undermine the prison service's insistence of the ethnic and ethno-religious neutrality and 'cosmopolitanism' of Russian penal space, which is presented as a latter-day manifestation of the Soviet-era 'friendship of nations' policy. Russian prisons today must be understood as sites of ethnic and religious pluralism.

This article addresses the question of the experiences of Muslim transnational prisoners in the Russian Federation. It is based on interviews the project GULAGECHOES conducted in Uzbekistan with men and women who previously had served sentences of varying lengths and severity in Russian penal facilities over the past two decades. Unlike in Soviet times when Uzbeks were counted as Russian nationals, today they are legally defined as 'foreigners', and their presence in large numbers in the country's prisons makes the situation in Russia more like in Europe, which has high numbers of prisoners from abroad. The focus of our investigation is on group formation among Muslim prisoners and their relationship between the different power hierarchies that already exist in Russian penitentiaries. We do this through discussing the journey of one Uzbek in-migrant to Russia, through prison and back to Uzbekistan. Our aim is to contest some of the stereotypical assumptions about the linkage between migrants, the traditional prisoner sub-culture of the thieves-in-law, Islamic belief and practices and violent radicalisation. We show that the social interactions among prisoners and the motives lying behind them are multi-faceted and complex. After the introduction and sections giving the contextual information needed to understand the Russian prison system, we discuss the experiences of Muslim transnational prisoners under headings dealing with Islam and prisoner hierarchies; surveillance by prison staff; ethnic solidarity; and contact with the outside world. We conclude that the past two decades have seen the emergence of a far more complicated and plural power geometry between the prison administration and prisoners and between Russian traditional criminal sub-culture and transnational Muslim prisoners.

Systematic review: YouTube recommendations and problematic content.

There has been much concern that social media, in particular YouTube, may facilitate radicalisation and polarisation of online audiences. This systematic review aimed to determine whether the YouTube recommender system facilitates pathways to problematic content such as extremist or radicalising material. The review conducted a narrative synthesis of the papers in this area. It assessed the eligibility of 1,187 studies and excluded studies using the PRISMA process for systematic reviews, leaving a final sample of 23 studies. Overall, 14 studies implicated the YouTube recommender system in facilitating problematic content pathways, seven produced mixed results, and two did not implicate the recommender system. The review's findings indicate that the YouTube recommender system could lead users to problematic content. However, due to limited access and an incomplete understanding of the YouTube recommender system, the models built by researchers might not reflect the actual mechanisms underlying the YouTube recommender system and pathways to problematic content.

Children of ISIS: considerations regarding trauma, treatment and risk.

The rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) brought with it a new wave of child soldier. This was characterised by media and propaganda circulating of children as young as four being exposed to detonators and rifles, along with perpetrating acts of violence. However, since the dismantling of ISIS, many of these children are now returning home to countries such as Australia and those in the United Kingdom and Europe; having been exposed to extremist Islamic ideology, radicalisation, and psychological and physical abuse. This review highlights that the trauma experienced by the child soldiers increases the possibility of symptomology associated with depression, anxiety, and externalising problems. Due to the complex and prolonged exposure to trauma, Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD) is considered. Alongside mental health symptomology, psychometric risk assessment tools are examined, and suitable psychological services are discussed as possible interventions and support systems for children.

Contrasting extremism and radicalisation in a syndemic society.

The purpose of this document is to make recommendations on the necessity to transform current P/CVE policies, emphasizing the importance of a more effective involvement of Politics to contrast the spread of extremism and radicalisation in Europe. In fact, in a syndemic and post-Caliphate world, problems and challenges toward political violence are more and more institutional, systemic, and political. According to the first HORIZON2020 PARTICIPATION PROJECT's results, the crisis of participation and the crisis of integration are closely linked to current extremism and radicalisation processes; at the same time, fragmentation, interrelation between different kind of extremism and hybridisation, request a new approach that involve, in a more effective way, civil society and political society to contrast extremism, radicalisation and terrorism.

Understanding the psychological aspects of the radicalisation process: a sociocognitive approach.

Understanding the psychological dimensions underlying the radicalisation process is a considerable challenge in the context of the legal judicial treatment of perpetrators of acts of radical violence. This clinical and qualitative study is based on an analysis of legal expert interviews of people at different stages of the radicalisation process. It highlights common psychological characteristics in personality, mechanisms of moral neutralisation and sociocognitive and interpretive treatment during radicalisation. These observations suggest the applicability of a model of cognitive-emotional transformation of self and meaning-building in radical violent engagement.

"Operational" concepts in the phenomenon of Islamist radicalization: From the subject to the apocalypse.

Taken from interviews with men having been incarcerated on the charge of criminal association with the intent of committing or aiding and abetting to terrorist acts, the central question of this article has thus emerged: which part does Islamist radicalization play on the psychic level of the self? Therefore, we have selected several theorical concepts, to guide us in this research, that became operative concepts, such as hatred, drive, melancholy and symptom. These have a converging point that is linked with the clinic of boredom and emptiness, or named otherwise, "off language". The radicalization process seems to come as a way to fill this emptiness, and hence to avoid the risk of the collapsing of the self. However, this "solution" is only a lure, leading to destruction, while at the same time, the person is aiming to restore its identity.

[Caring for minors returning from terrorist operation areas]. / Prendre en charge les mineurs de retour de zones d'opération de groupement terroriste.

Faced with the challenge of the children of jihadists who have joined the terrorist organisation Islamic State, France has set up an innovative and multidisciplinary system. It is strongly based on child protection law. In particular, it provides for a complete assessment to be carried out in hospital, as well as the schooling of these minors and their accompaniment by professionals from different spheres.

[Preventing radicalisation: The example of a youth centre]. / Prévenir la radicalisation : l'exemple d'une maison des adolescents.

The maison des adolescents du Cher has been identified by the State to intervene at the local level to prevent the radicalisation of young people, as part of a collaborative work with other actors. This ambitious scheme questions the relationships and mobilisation of the various authorities and institutional structures. It poses an interesting challenge in terms of the implementation of intervention methods while respecting individual freedoms and protecting the population.

[Caregivers and minors who are radicalised or at risk of becoming radicalised: legal benchmarks]. / Soignants et mineurs radicalisés ou en risque de le devenir : repères juridiques.

In an era where terrorism has become modernized and globalized, the international community and the French authorities remain cautious about an invisible, yet very present army, that of the "fighters in becoming ", whose indoctrination is privileged by the Islamic State: the minors. In these times of crisis, what legal apprehension can be brought to caregivers confronted with radicalised minor patients or undergoing radicalisation? Several limitations can be pointed out on this subject in the international response. Despite this, it is possible to give some guidance to caregivers confronted with situations of radicalized minors, or undergoing radicalisation, facing the dangers they represent for themselves and for society.

[Preventing radicalisation with the necessary involvement of all]. / Prévenir la radicalisation avec la nécessaire implication de tous.

As a recent public policy, the prevention of radicalisation has been built in response to an evolving phenomenon. The implementation of tools for reporting and monitoring people undergoing radicalisation will begin in 2014. Although there is no standard profile of radicalised people, the target group for these systems is mainly young people, adults or minors. In terms of prevention of radicalisation, care covers a broad spectrum of interventions and professionals.

Dealing With Radicalised Youth Offenders: The Development and Implementation of a Youth-Specific Framework.

Background: In 2018 in the Australian State of New South Wales, a specialist Countering Violent Extremism Unit was established in the youth criminal justice system. This was in direct response to a number of youth below the age of 18 who have been charged for terrorism offences and identified as involved in violent extremist acts. This youth-specific framework was the first of its kind in Australia. It was designed to provide multidisciplinary practitioner-based approaches for the early-identification, diversion, and disengagement of at-risk and radicalised youth offenders. Aims: This paper will explore the experiences and lessons learned by the Youth Justice New South Wales Countering Violent Extremism Unit. It will discuss the relevance of youth radicalisation within Australia's evolving national security climate. This includes emerging trends in relation to youth radicalisation to varied violent extremist ideologies. This paper will explore the specialist approach adopted for preventing and countering violent extremism through the identification, assessment, and case management of at-risk and radicalised youth offenders. Implications: The Youth Justice New South Wales experience indicates that youth criminal justice settings can be designed to tackle the challenges posed by at-risk and radicalised youth. The practitioner experience canvassed in this paper highlights that a pluralistic and non-punitive approach to supervision, client-focused assessment and case management processes, and widespread resourcing of multidisciplinary practitioners and programs can be used to account for developmental and psychosocial vulnerabilities in addition to violent extremism risk factors amongst youth offenders. These approaches should be supplemented by youth-specific countering violent extremism practitioner expertise, and a range of violent extremism case management and risk assessment measures.

Adolescents Engaged in Radicalisation and Terrorism: A Dimensional and Categorical Assessment.

Since 2010 and the founding of the Islamic State, the radicalisation phenomenon in Europe has involved more adolescents and converts to Islam than in previous Islamist terrorist group movements (e.g., Al-Qaeda). In most cases, these adolescents are "homegrown terrorists," a challenging difference, as they are in confrontation with their home and societal environment. As a new and emerging phenomenon, radicalisation leads to many questions. Are empathic capacities altered? Are they presenting psychiatric pathologies or suicidal tendencies that explain why they put themselves in serious dangers? Are they just young delinquents who simply met a radical ideology? In January 2018, by special Justice Department authorisation, we contacted all minors (N = 31) convicted in France for "criminal association to commit terrorism." We assessed several sociodemographic, clinical and psychological variables, including empathy and suicidality, in half of them (N = 15) and compared them with 101 teenagers convicted for non-terrorist delinquency who were placed in Closed Educational Centres (CEC). The results show that adolescents engaged in radicalisation and terrorism do not have a significant prevalence of psychiatric disorders, suicidal tendencies or lack of empathy. It also appears that they have different psychological profiles than delinquent adolescents. "Radicalised" adolescents show better intellectual skills, insight capacities and coping strategies. In addition, the manifestation of their difficulties is less externalised than adolescents from the CEC, having committed very few delinquent acts.

What factors are truly associated with risk for radicalisation? A secondary data analysis within a UK sample.

Radicalisation and extremist violence are of increasing concern internationally. The unconventional, decentralised, and transnational nature of modern terrorism involves an active process of radicalisation requiring national security responses to reflect findings from recent empirical research. This study aims to identify factors that relate to extremist attitudes and potential vulnerability to radicalisation in order to inform preventative action. A cross-sectional survey was conducted of a representative population sample of men and women aged 18-45 of Muslim heritage recruited by quota sampling in two English cities. Logistic regressions were performed on a seven-item dichotomised measure based on our previously developed scale of 'sympathy for terrorist acts'. Scores representing 'non-condemnation of these acts' were deemed to represent risk for radicalisation. Thirteen respondents had a positive score on the sympathy for terrorism measure (2.4%), 39 scored zero (6.41%) and the remainder (91.4%) had a negative score representing condemnation of terrorist acts. There was a significant association between sympathy for terrorism and belonging to the local or global Muslim community, anxiety, and support for the use of defensive violence. Gender, religious identity, country of birth, belief in Sharia law, the importance of religion in life, and mosque attendance were all not associated with sympathy for terrorism. The results contribute to an understanding of the radicalisation process and have potential value in developing preventative public health interventions.

Extremism and common mental illness: cross-sectional community survey of White British and Pakistani men and women living in England.

BACKGROUND: Mental illnesses may explain vulnerability to develop extremist beliefs that can lead to violent protest and terrorism. Yet there is little evidence. AIMS: To investigate the relationship between mental illnesses and extremist beliefs. METHOD: Population survey of 618 White British and Pakistani people in England. Extremism was assessed by an established measure of sympathies for violent protest and terrorism (SVPT). Respondents with any positive scores (showing sympathies) were compared with those with all negative scores. We calculated associations between extremist sympathies and ICD-10 diagnoses of depression and dysthymia, and symptoms of anxiety, personality difficulties, autism and post-traumatic stress. Also considered were demographics, life events, social assets, political engagement and criminal convictions. RESULTS: SVPT were more common in those with major depression with dysthymia (risk ratio 4.07, 95% CI 1.37-12.05, P = 0.01), symptoms of anxiety (risk ratio 1.09, 95% CI 1.03-1.15, P = 0.002) or post-traumatic stress (risk ratio 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.05, P = 0.003). At greater risk of SVPT were: young adults (<21 versus ≥21: risk ratio 3.05, 95% CI 1.31-7.06, P = 0.01), White British people (versus Pakistani people: risk ratio 2.24, 95% CI 1.25-4.02, P = 0.007) and those with criminal convictions (risk ratio 2.23, 95% CI 1.01-4.95, P = 0.048). No associations were found with life events, social assets and political engagement. CONCLUSION: Depression, dysthymia and symptoms of anxiety and post-traumatic stress are associated with extremist sympathies.

[Caregivers of North African origin faced with Islamist radicalisation]. / Le soignant d'origine maghrébine face à la radicalisation islamiste.

Supporting teenagers in search of ideality sometimes requires accepting and understanding the movements present in the process of Islamist radicalisation. It is therefore necessary to understand the implicit dimension to this notion of radicalisation and what it arouses in each of us. For caregivers with a North African immigrant background, it is a question of implementing their countertransference in order to guarantee unconditional acceptance, and to establish a bond to deliver better care.

The banality of counterterrorism "after, after 9/11"? Perspectives on the Prevent duty from the UK health care sector.

Since 2015, the UK healthcare sector sector has (along with education and social care) been responsibilised for noticing signs of radicalisation and reporting patients to the Prevent programme. The Prevent Duty frames the integration of healthcare professionals into the UK's counterterrorism effort as the banal extension of safeguarding. But safeguarding has previously been framed as the protection of children, and adults with care and support needs, from abuse. This article explores the legitimacy of situating Prevent within safeguarding through interviews with safeguarding experts in six National Health Service (NHS) Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups. It also describes the factors which NHS staff identified as indicators of radicalisation - data which was obtained from an online questionnaire completed by 329 health care professionals. The article argues that the "after, after 9/11" era is not radically distinct from earlier periods of counterterrorism but does contain novel features, such as the performance of anticipatory counterterrorism under the rubric of welfare and care.