International Journal on Criminology Volume 4, Number 2, Winter 2016 | Page 68

International Journal on Criminology
These quotes abound in the discourses of the preachers of death, where the
status of martyr goes to those who die in combat. Death is seen as the celestial vault
giving access to a better life but also washing away all sins committed by the individual
while alive. Finally, while indoctrination is indeed one of the most dangerous pieces
of the mechanism described above, when it is isolated, it is inoffensive. With no effect
on minds sheltered from the explosive mass, 59 indoctrination only plays the role of
detonator.
Conclusion
Experience and study encourage me to offer some recommendations, while
at the same time emphasizing the limits of my research due to the recentness of the
phenomenon and the difficulties of approaching the subjects presented above.
[The recommendations mentioned here are more general in focus, not including more
specific recommendations concerning Algeria]
• Expand the involvement of the penitentiary administration in the antiterrorist
struggle to distinguish those who have truly repented from the diehards.
• Involve schools, an essential vector for transmitting a culture of peace and
protecting against indoctrination.
• As the fight against terrorism is not fought by the security services alone, and
the new forms of terrorism appear particularly virulent, there is an imperative
need to establish a center for the study of the psychological and cultural aspects
of terrorism, including specialists of different backgrounds. Its motivated and
substantiated opinions would go straight to decision makers who could integrate
them into a global antiterrorist struggle.
• The psychological and cultural aspects of terrorism should be taken into account
by specialists and officials: military combat alone is not enough.
• The birth of the “Fatwa-natic” phenomenon, or the “Cloud” of fatwa, is a challenge
to the international community. Cultural, psychological, and civilizational
borders are now permeable to extremist “ideals.” The “Cloud” penetrates the
homes of believers and non-believers, conservative families of every observance,
schools, companies, and even the machinery of states. Developing self-defense
technologies, especially computerized ones, is now an urgent necessity.
• Media and political strategies need a shared approach to the phenomenon, one
based on clear concepts with no conflation between them. An informed specialist
has difficulty understanding the almost official unanimity behind calling terrorists
Jihadists. Even magistrates use this term, which in is original meaning designated
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The mass is the platform on which a person evolves from birth, and even before, and is composed
of the set of psychological, social, historical, economic, and political elements which combine to
decide the person’s future.
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