NCJ Number
86211
Date Published
1982
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses terrorist victim-offender relationships, the impact of a hostage seizure on victims, victim coping strategies, examples of victim survival, and consequences of terroristic victimization.
Abstract
Terrorists tend to operate from a psychic world that excludes all values and sensitivities not directly related to their obsessive ideologies and causes. Victims of terrorist acts are depersonalized by the terrorists and at the most are viewed as pawns to be sacrificed in the achievement of the terrorists' purposes. In the case of hostagetaking, victims are initially bewildered by the terrorists' seizing control of their lives and circumstances. Bewilderment is subsequently replaced by extreme fear and panic. Victims of hostagetaking should make every effort to keep their fear within reasonable bounds and reassure and appease the terrorists without ingratiating themselves with their captors nor displaying hatred or overt rejection. The tendency of hostages to develop strong emotional attachments to their captors has been documented. Because of hostages' possible attachment to their captors, hostages should be informed about rescue operations only with extreme caution. Short-term and medium-term effects of terrorist victimization depend on personality traits of the victims, the nature of the experience they have undergone, the circumstances associated with it, the degree of physical violence used, and the duration of captivity. Services to and treatment of victims of hostagetaking should be sensitive to the individual responses and consequences for each hostage. Sixteen references are listed.