Brent Smith, a Professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Arkansas has just published an interesting paper (pdf) on terrorist behaviour. In the course of his research he and his team studied:
– Ten attacks by international groups that involved 93 preparatory acts.
– Fourteen attacks by right-wing groups that involved 55 preparatory acts.
– Twenty-nine attacks by environmental groups that involved 80 preparatory acts.
– Six attacks by left-wing groups that involved eight preparatory acts.
And the results are pretty striking. Terrorists, it seems, hate commuting.* According to Smith:
Terrorists may stay close to home because of new immigration status, lack of transportation, lack of knowledge of the urban landscape or a desire to avoid attention. Among single-issue terrorists in particular, 71 percent of the preparatory acts occurred within 12 miles and 92 percent within 28 miles of the target. This finding may also be attributed to the use of “uncoordinated violence” tactics by these environmental and anti-abortion extremists, which often results in local targeting by “lone wolves” sympathetic to the cause.
