Slow Decline
Weird Little Guys
Controversies in Terrorism Trials
This chapter examines a contentious legal case involving gift card purchases linked to ISIS, scrutinizing the relevance of evidence such as Nazi memorabilia in court. It discusses the balance between admissible evidence and jury bias, illustrating how inflammatory details can unfairly influence jurors' decisions. The chapter also explores the concept of entrapment in terrorism cases, highlighting the complexities of legal defenses and the implications of undercover operations.
In 2016, Nicholas Young became the first American police officer to be arrested and charged with a federal terrorism offense. At trial, jurors were shown mountains of evidence about his collection of nazi memorabilia. But what does that have to do with the gift cards he texted to an FBI informant he thought was a member of ISIS?
Sources:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/4559133/united-states-v-young
Helen Taylor (2019): Domestic terrorism and hate crimes: legal definitions and media framing of mass shootings in the United States, Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism
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Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/human_rights_institute/44
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https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol103/iss1/3
Dru Stevenson, Entrapment By Numbers, 16 J. LAW & PUB. POL’Y 1 (2005)
https://law.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=5903&context=expresso
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A Cross‑Ideological Analysis, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation
https://icsr.info/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/ICSR-Report-Violent-Extremist-Innovation-A-Cross%E2%80%91Ideological-Analysis.pdf
Marc‑André Argentino, Amarnath Amarasingam, Emmi Conley, 2022. “One Struggle”:
Examining Narrative Syncretism between Accelerationists and Salafi‑Jihadists. International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation
https://icsr.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ICSR-Report-One-Struggle-Examining-Narrative-Syncretism-between-Accelerationists-and-Salafi%E2%80%91Jihadists.pdf
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Meleagrou-Hitchens, Alexander; Ayad, Moustafa; Program on Extremism, George Washington University; and National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, "The Age of Incoherence? Understanding Mixed and Unclear Ideology Extremism" (2023). Reports, Projects, and Research.
https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs5746/files/2023-06/the-age-of-incoherence-final.pdf
Martin Laryš (2024) “White Jihad” and “White Sharia”: Jihadism as an Instrument of Intra-Extremist Outbidding among Right-Wing Extremists, Terrorism and Political Violence, 36:7, 853-870, DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2023.2214240
Ariel Koch, Karine Nahon & Assaf Moghadam (2024) White Jihad: How White Supremacists Adopt Jihadi Narratives, Aesthetics, and Tactics, Terrorism and Political Violence, 36:7, 919-943, DOI: 10.1080/09546553.2023.2223694
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