Data Findings Of Lone Wolf Terrorists In The U.S

Lone Wolf Terrorists in the U.S.

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Lone Wolf Terrorists in the U.S.

Introduction

A lone wolf is considered to be an individual who tends to prepare and commit violent acts alone. The matter of fact is that a lone wolf has no assistance of any particular group. There is a high probability that individuals like this are motivated or influenced by beliefs or ideology of an external group. Media and U.S. law enforcement agencies use the term "lone wolf" to refer an individual who undertakes violent acts of terrorism. The United States reeling as the country tends to grapple with hate crimes and homegrown terrorist acts of the past few years. There are a number of incidents happened in the U.S. where different people are killed or given life threats. In most of the cases, the reason behind such an incident is false belief or faith (Barnea, 2018).

A large number of investigators are trying to find the pieces of evidence of such cases where innocent people are killed. The matter of fact is that the public has only limited knowledge based on which only a single person has been charged with a crime. There is a high need to understand that in case if the suspects are lone wolf terrorist, they can be joining a number of others as well. Although lone wolf terrorist does not belong to any group or organization, there are few studies that have found the commonalities between them.

Causes

Everything is happening for a reason, and whatever happens, has something at its backend for sure. Therefore, there must be some reasons behind the emergence of lone wolf terrorists in the U.S. The top causes may include radical Islam and white supremacy. In majority of the cases, al-Qaeda is known for organized attacks, and it tends to include the 9/11 attacks on America as well. The matter of fact is that a large number of lone wolves have been inspired by al-Qaeda, and this has become one of the biggest cause of an increased in the terrorist attacks not just in the U.S., but on a global level as well. One thing that must be taken into consideration is the fact that the inspired lone wolves did not have any sort of interaction with al-Qaeda, it is just an inspiration for them (Hamm et al., 2017).

Studies and research show that there are only a few far-left lone wolves. The matter of fact is that fewer than one among five lone-wolf terrorists have the motivation from a single issue. The issue of lone wolves in the U.S. is seen to be increasing, and the government is not likely to resolve these issues in a near time soon. The reason for that lies in the fact that both adherents to white supremacy and al-Qaeda have been seen advocating to act independently. Due to this, it becomes complex for law enforcement when it comes to detecting terrorist plans.

Who Are They?

The matter of fact is that there is a distinction between the group of terrorists and lone wolf terrorist. As per some studies, it has been seen that after the year 1990, the majority of the attackers were found to be male. In statistics, it goes up like 97% of the attackers. Among these numbers, about 40% were not employed which means that the lone wolves are mostly unemployed, and this can be a reason for this distraction towards something which leads to such violence. Among these numbers, 41% of the attackers had been convicted of a crime before. In the United States of America, it has been observed that about one-third of the attackers were either arrested or convicted on a felony charge. The research does not end up here, the remaining 21% of the lone wolf terrorists did serve a lot of time in prison, and it must be considered that half of them were radicalized in the jail (Gill et al., 2014).

Why They are not Identified?

When it comes to lone wolves, it undoubtedly becomes quite difficult to profile them accurately. It is definitely not an easy task to build a stereotypical profile of lone wolves. Although, it is true that lone wolves do not work with any assistance and do not have any sort of group, but they are not isolated either (Combs, 2017). Regardless of not belonging to any terror organization, a vast number of terrorists tend to meet with other believers. The matter of fact is that lone wolves do not hide their beliefs and intentions. In the U.S., most of the lone wolf terrorists make public statements regarding their beliefs, and they are not quite proud to share it. Apart from this, the majority of friends or family of such terrorists already know about their grievances with society.

The lone terrorist attackers are seen to be increased in the United States. It has been quite difficult to detect individuals in the past as well. The matter of fact is that the law enforcement and intelligence agencies are ineffective against the individuals who are not communicating his intentions and plans to others. In the current scenario, one of the most helpful aspects for lone wolf terrorists is the technology. Therefore, they are utilizing technology for getting assistance and information about different things that may help them in their terrorist attacks.

Future of Lone Wolves in the U.S.

There is no doubt that the terrorists are continuously being evolved over the past few years. There is a high need to be concerned about terrorism. Although the attacks by lone wolves are statistically rare, one thing that must be taken into consideration is the fact that whenever a new attack is made, it leads to increase the tension (Barnea, 2018). As the numbers in the attacks of lone wolf terrorists are seen to be increasing, it is definitely an indication that the number will be high in the future if necessary steps are not taken to prevent this inhuman act of taking the lives of innocent people.

Conclusion

It is concluded that in most of the cases lone wolves are motivated or influence by beliefs or ideology of an external group. A large number of investigators are trying to find the pieces of evidence of such cases where innocent people are killed. One thing that must be taken into consideration is that in case if the suspects are lone wolf terrorist, they can be joining a number of others as well. There is no doubt that a large number of lone wolves have been inspired by the terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda, and this has become one of the biggest cause of an increased in the terrorist attacks not just in the U.S., but on a global level as well.

When it comes to lone wolves, it undoubtedly becomes quite difficult to profile them accurately. In the United States, it has been seen that most of the lone wolf terrorists make public statements regarding their beliefs, and they are not quite proud to share it. The reason why such terrorists are not being caught lies in the fact that law enforcement and intelligence agencies are not effective against the individuals who are not communicating his intentions and plans to others. There is no doubt that the numbers in the attacks of lone wolf terrorists increasing, it is undoubtedly an indication that the number will be increased in the future if necessary steps are not taken.

References

Barnea, A. (2018). Challenging the “Lone Wolf” Phenomenon in an Era of Information Overload. International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 31(2), 217-234.

Combs, C. C. (2017). Terrorism in the twenty-first century. Routledge.

Gill, P., Horgan, J., & Deckert, P. (2014). Bombing alone: Tracing the motivations and antecedent behaviors of lone‐actor terrorists. Journal of forensic sciences, 59(2), 425-435.

Hamm, M. S., & Spaaij, R. (2017). “Media, Popular Culture and the Lone Wolf Terrorist: The Evolution of Targeting, Tactics and Violent Ideologies.