Autism spectrum disorder, extremism and risk assessment.

BACKGROUND: To date, there is no evidence supporting the existence of an association between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and extremism in the general population. However, there is increasing recognition that several features of ASD may provide the context of vulnerability to engage in extremist behaviour. AIMS: This paper sets out the case for a dedicated clinical approach to better integrate clinical risk appraisal processes with an assessment of ASD individuals' vulnerabilities within the Criminal Justice System. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this paper the Framework for the Assessment of Risk & Protection in Offenders on the Autistic Spectrum (FARAS): A Guide for Risk Assessors Working with Offenders on the Autistic Spectrum is explored. In developing the FARAS, Al-Attar proposed seven facets of ASD that 'may have different functional links with push and pull factors to terrorism' (p. 928), which include circumscribed interests; rich vivid fantasy and impaired social imagination; need for order, rules, rituals, routine and predictability; obsessionality, repetition and collecting; social interaction and communication difficulties; cognitive styles and Sensory processing. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: We describe the FARAS within the context of the most widely used clinical risk appraisal 'aide memoire' instruments integral to the Structured Professional Judgement of risk process, namely the HCR20v3.

Radicalisation studies: An emerging interdisciplinary field.

This research note provides an overview of Radicalisation Studies as an emerging interdisciplinary field aimed at developing more holistic understandings of how and why individuals and groups turn to extreme ideologies and political violence. It traces the evolution of radicalisation research across core social science disciplines, including sociology, psychology, anthropology, and political science. While this burgeoning scholarship has expanded knowledge, persistent gaps remain due to studying radicalisation in disciplinary silos. To address this fragmentation, the research note proposes an integrated Radicalisation Studies approach grounded in critical social theory and reflexivity. This paradigm synthesises concepts and mechanisms from across disciplines to investigate the complex interplay between individual vulnerabilities, group dynamics, and broader socio-political contexts in generating radicalisation. The note outlines theoretical foundations, guiding research questions, and methodological strategies for this new field focused on mixed-methods, multi-level analysis. Radicalisation Studies holds promise for advancing theoretical integration, contextualised explanations, critical perspectives on radicalisation discourse, and evidence-based preventative policies. While challenges remain in institutionalising this emerging field, Radicalisation Studies has the potential to steer research towards greater interdisciplinarity and the nuanced understandings necessary to elucidate this complex phenomenon. The research note aims to spur debate on constructing Radicalisation Studies as a viable scholarly enterprise.

Children of ISIS: considerations regarding trauma, treatment and risk.

The rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) brought with it a new wave of child soldier. This was characterised by media and propaganda circulating of children as young as four being exposed to detonators and rifles, along with perpetrating acts of violence. However, since the dismantling of ISIS, many of these children are now returning home to countries such as Australia and those in the United Kingdom and Europe; having been exposed to extremist Islamic ideology, radicalisation, and psychological and physical abuse. This review highlights that the trauma experienced by the child soldiers increases the possibility of symptomology associated with depression, anxiety, and externalising problems. Due to the complex and prolonged exposure to trauma, Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD) is considered. Alongside mental health symptomology, psychometric risk assessment tools are examined, and suitable psychological services are discussed as possible interventions and support systems for children.

[Preventing radicalisation with the necessary involvement of all]. / Prévenir la radicalisation avec la nécessaire implication de tous.

As a recent public policy, the prevention of radicalisation has been built in response to an evolving phenomenon. The implementation of tools for reporting and monitoring people undergoing radicalisation will begin in 2014. Although there is no standard profile of radicalised people, the target group for these systems is mainly young people, adults or minors. In terms of prevention of radicalisation, care covers a broad spectrum of interventions and professionals.

[Preventing radicalisation: The example of a youth centre]. / Prévenir la radicalisation : l'exemple d'une maison des adolescents.

The maison des adolescents du Cher has been identified by the State to intervene at the local level to prevent the radicalisation of young people, as part of a collaborative work with other actors. This ambitious scheme questions the relationships and mobilisation of the various authorities and institutional structures. It poses an interesting challenge in terms of the implementation of intervention methods while respecting individual freedoms and protecting the population.

[Caregivers and minors who are radicalised or at risk of becoming radicalised: legal benchmarks]. / Soignants et mineurs radicalisés ou en risque de le devenir : repères juridiques.

In an era where terrorism has become modernized and globalized, the international community and the French authorities remain cautious about an invisible, yet very present army, that of the "fighters in becoming ", whose indoctrination is privileged by the Islamic State: the minors. In these times of crisis, what legal apprehension can be brought to caregivers confronted with radicalised minor patients or undergoing radicalisation? Several limitations can be pointed out on this subject in the international response. Despite this, it is possible to give some guidance to caregivers confronted with situations of radicalized minors, or undergoing radicalisation, facing the dangers they represent for themselves and for society.

[Caring for minors returning from terrorist operation areas]. / Prendre en charge les mineurs de retour de zones d'opération de groupement terroriste.

Faced with the challenge of the children of jihadists who have joined the terrorist organisation Islamic State, France has set up an innovative and multidisciplinary system. It is strongly based on child protection law. In particular, it provides for a complete assessment to be carried out in hospital, as well as the schooling of these minors and their accompaniment by professionals from different spheres.

Extremism and common mental illness: cross-sectional community survey of White British and Pakistani men and women living in England.

BACKGROUND: Mental illnesses may explain vulnerability to develop extremist beliefs that can lead to violent protest and terrorism. Yet there is little evidence. AIMS: To investigate the relationship between mental illnesses and extremist beliefs. METHOD: Population survey of 618 White British and Pakistani people in England. Extremism was assessed by an established measure of sympathies for violent protest and terrorism (SVPT). Respondents with any positive scores (showing sympathies) were compared with those with all negative scores. We calculated associations between extremist sympathies and ICD-10 diagnoses of depression and dysthymia, and symptoms of anxiety, personality difficulties, autism and post-traumatic stress. Also considered were demographics, life events, social assets, political engagement and criminal convictions. RESULTS: SVPT were more common in those with major depression with dysthymia (risk ratio 4.07, 95% CI 1.37-12.05, P = 0.01), symptoms of anxiety (risk ratio 1.09, 95% CI 1.03-1.15, P = 0.002) or post-traumatic stress (risk ratio 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.05, P = 0.003). At greater risk of SVPT were: young adults (<21 versus ≥21: risk ratio 3.05, 95% CI 1.31-7.06, P = 0.01), White British people (versus Pakistani people: risk ratio 2.24, 95% CI 1.25-4.02, P = 0.007) and those with criminal convictions (risk ratio 2.23, 95% CI 1.01-4.95, P = 0.048). No associations were found with life events, social assets and political engagement. CONCLUSION: Depression, dysthymia and symptoms of anxiety and post-traumatic stress are associated with extremist sympathies.

Keeping Our Mouths Shut: The Fear and Racialized Self-Censorship of British Healthcare Professionals in PREVENT Training.

The PREVENT policy introduced a duty for British health professionals to identify and report patients they suspect may be vulnerable towards radicalisation. Research on PREVENT's impact in healthcare is scant, especially on the lived experiences of staff. This study examined individual interviews with 16 critical National Health Service (NHS) professionals who participated in mandatory PREVENT counter-radicalisation training, half of whom are Muslims. Results reveal two themes underlying the self-censorship healthcare staff. The first theme is fear, which critical NHS staff experienced as a result of the political and moral subscript underlying PREVENT training: the 'good' position is to accept the PREVENT duty, and the 'bad' position is to reject it. This fear is experienced more acutely by British Muslim healthcare staff. The second theme relates to the structures which extend beyond PREVENT but nonetheless contribute to self-censorship: distrustful settings in which the gaze of unknown colleagues stifles personal expression; reluctant trainers who admit PREVENT may be unethical but nonetheless relinquish responsibility from the act of training; and socio-political conditions affecting the NHS which overwhelm staff with other concerns. This paper argues that counter-terrorism within healthcare settings may reveal racist structures which disproportionality impact British Muslims, and raises questions regarding freedom of conscience.

Radicalisation and mental health.

BACKGROUND: Although radicalisation is invoked to explain how people become terrorists, there is little empirical evidence. AIMS: To set out the approaches to understand radicalisation, ethical and definitional issues, and how public health approaches may help. METHODS: A non-systematic narrative review. RESULTS: Radicalisation is proposed to explain how people become terrorists. Factors such as social connections, political engagement, group belonging, mental illnesses and other social and cultural influence show a complex interplay that we are still trying to understand. Common mental illnesses appear to be a risk factor at a population level for developing extremist beliefs, and psychoses and autism are reported as more common amongst some terrorist offenders. The activation of stereotypical and reactive fears and fantasies may distort our understanding of how to prevent radicalisation and terrorism. CONCLUSIONS: A public health framework offers a societal, inclusive, and positive approach to preventing radicalisation, alongside criminal justice actions.

[Management of minors returning from regions controlled by Islamic State]. / Prise en charge de mineurs revenant de zones contrôlées par l'État islamique.

Certain children's welfare accommodation facilities have, since the end of 2015, taken in minors returning from regions controlled by Islamic State. These complex situations challenge professionals and involve political, media-related and religious issues. They require understanding of the process of radicalisation in order to be able to support the children and their families. In this context, training and team work are essential.

[Returning or turning to religious figures in social work?]. / Retour ou recours au religieux dans le travail social ?

The social workers tell to be more and more often exposed to the religious reference table of the people they help and confronted to internal conflicts in the teams when it is a question of delimiting the borders of the religious freedom of expression in a laic frame. Besides they observe processes of affiliations-reaffiliations which pass by unchecked uses of religious practices, in particular when it concerns muslims people, which tends to become among young people of popular districts, and more marginally among the middle-class teenagers, in search of a reassuring orthopraxie, the support of a militant action for a project of new value identities disqualified or assigned, at risk of falling over to the communitarianism or the radicalization.

[Religious conversion, psychological construction and holy violence]. / Conversion religieuse, construction psychique et violence sacrée.

The adolescent process is the theatre for the confrontation of oneself with the formation of identity, the learning of limits and psychological compromises as attempts at psychological regulation. Religious radicalisation appears on stage, offering ways of responding to anxieties fuelled by the global socio-political context. Adolescent vulnerability is studied through the prism of all these different conflicting tensions.

Towards a fruitful concept of radicalisation: a synthesis.

The term 'radicalisation' is relatively new. It is mostly the result of the political climate since 2005, but now widely used in work on extremism, fundamentalism, conspiracism, fanaticism, terrorism, and counter-terrorism. But exactly what is radicalisation and can we still properly use the term in the face of the many objections that have been levelled against it? I defend a conception of radicalisation that combines the fourmain approaches in the literature, the so-called monist and pluralist, as well as the absolutist and relativist ones. It does so on the basis of conceptual analysis, reflective equilibrium and particular case studies. Since the term will not be going away, it is wiser to be as lucid on how one defines it as possible. Such a definition matters for three reasons: there is much confusion in the public debate about radicalisation, e.g. about Islamism, increasing right-wing radicalisation in Europe and North America, and the views of conspiracy thinkers and anti-vaxxers, the term 'radicalisation' is also widely used in the academic literature on terrorism and counter-terrorism, but there is much unclarity about its relation to violence, to phenomena like fundamentalism, extremism, terrorism, and, finally, in order to be fruitful in research we need a definition that can be operationalized.

In search of an appropriate channel for voicing political concerns: political participation among radicalised youth in Europe.

This research aims to identify values related to political and civic participation methods among the two groups of radicalised youngsters: native youth who support movements labelled as far-right (N= 122) and migrant-origin self-identified Muslim youth with strong organisational ties with religious communities (N=109) in Germany, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. The study posits that these these radically aligned youngsters position themselves against politically moderate European citizens, who are less intuitive when making judgements on political affairs comparing to them. Diverging from the unifying European values and hypersensitivities, these youngsters' political reactions are often radical and loud in their safe-to-speak, segregated movements. By using the narrations of the range of mainstream modes of political participation, the current qualitative research asks what appears valuable for the two groups of young people to express their political discontent. Findings revealed that both groups highlighted similar values regarding voting. Self-identified Muslim youth stressed the importance of volunteering and street protests (despite not having participated in one). Many native youths, on the other hand, stressed the function of unlawful behaviour in street protests to pursue political objectives. The findings such as these are discussed considering the group differences.

Public Mental Health Approaches to Online Radicalisation: An Empty Systematic Review.

This systematic review seeks to position online radicalisation within whole system frameworks incorporating individual, family, community and wider structural influences whilst reporting evidence of public mental health approaches for individuals engaging in radical online content. METHODS: the authors searched Medline (via Ovid), PsycInfo (via Ebscohost) and Web of Science (Core Collection) with the use of Boolean operators across "extremism", "online content" and "intervention". RESULTS: Following full-text assessments, all retrieved papers were excluded. No publications fulfilled the primary objective of reporting public mental health interventions specifically addressing online radicalisation. However, six publications fulfilled the secondary objective of identifying theoretical and conceptual relationships amongst elements in the three inclusion criteria (online extremism, psychological outcomes and intervention strategy) that could inform interventions within public mental health frameworks. These publications were quality assessed and discussed following the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care guide for reporting empty reviews. CONCLUSIONS: there is an immediate need for further research in this field given the increase in different factions of radicalised beliefs resulting from online, particularly social media, usage.

Violence and Capacity to Hate.

This paper analyses two opposite relational configurations: violence and the capacity to hate. The former results in a psychic impoverishment, the latter in a psychic development. Primarily, the aspects of violence and the inability to hate within modern Western society are introduced. When a psychic fragility is unconsciously supported by an entire society, it becomes even more difficult to alleviate, and transform into a resource promoting psychic development. The second section explores the use of hate by young children in order to show the naturalness of this emotion and its origin. In the third and fourth sections, the unfortunate outcomes of the incapacity to hate, leading to violent antisocial conduct, are explored. To do so, the pioneering contributions by Melanie Klein and Donald Winnicott are commented on, followed by modern contributions by the literature: one of our articles published in 2020, and the review of the literature published by Alessandro Orsini on the topic of radicalisation. Finally, the differences between violence and the capacity to hate are highlighted and summarised. The article also emphasises numerous bibliographic references to further deepen the study on violence from a psycho-social perspective.

Ethnic and religious identities in Russian penal institutions: A case study of Uzbek Transnational Muslim prisoners.

Russia has become one of the main migration hubs worldwide following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The vast majority of migrant workers travel to Russia from three Central Asian countries. However, Russian immigration laws and policies are ambiguous and highly punitive. The result is that many migrants resort to undocumented status working in the shadow economy, which places them in a disadvantaged and precarious position. In this position they are vulnerable to becoming targets of the Russian criminal justice system as they take to crime to overcome economic uncertainty, become embroiled in interpersonal conflicts ending in violence, or fall victim to fabricated criminal charges initiated by Russian police officers under pressure to produce their monthly quota of arrests. The impact on Russian penal institutions is that they have become ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse sites as a consequence of the incarceration of growing numbers of transnational prisoners. Using person-to-person interviews conducted in Uzbekistan with men and women who served sentences in Russian penal institutions during the past two decades, we show in this article how the large-scale migratory processes have transformed Russian prisons into sites of ethnic and religious plurality, in which formal rules and informal sub-cultures - the colony regime, so-called thieves' law ( vorovskoy zakon), ethnic solidarity norms, and Sharia law - coexist and clash in new ways compared with the status quo ante. Thus, we argue there is a need to revise the prevailing understanding about the power dynamics in Russian penal institutions. Our findings undermine the prison service's insistence of the ethnic and ethno-religious neutrality and 'cosmopolitanism' of Russian penal space, which is presented as a latter-day manifestation of the Soviet-era 'friendship of nations' policy. Russian prisons today must be understood as sites of ethnic and religious pluralism.

This article addresses the question of the experiences of Muslim transnational prisoners in the Russian Federation. It is based on interviews the project GULAGECHOES conducted in Uzbekistan with men and women who previously had served sentences of varying lengths and severity in Russian penal facilities over the past two decades. Unlike in Soviet times when Uzbeks were counted as Russian nationals, today they are legally defined as 'foreigners', and their presence in large numbers in the country's prisons makes the situation in Russia more like in Europe, which has high numbers of prisoners from abroad. The focus of our investigation is on group formation among Muslim prisoners and their relationship between the different power hierarchies that already exist in Russian penitentiaries. We do this through discussing the journey of one Uzbek in-migrant to Russia, through prison and back to Uzbekistan. Our aim is to contest some of the stereotypical assumptions about the linkage between migrants, the traditional prisoner sub-culture of the thieves-in-law, Islamic belief and practices and violent radicalisation. We show that the social interactions among prisoners and the motives lying behind them are multi-faceted and complex. After the introduction and sections giving the contextual information needed to understand the Russian prison system, we discuss the experiences of Muslim transnational prisoners under headings dealing with Islam and prisoner hierarchies; surveillance by prison staff; ethnic solidarity; and contact with the outside world. We conclude that the past two decades have seen the emergence of a far more complicated and plural power geometry between the prison administration and prisoners and between Russian traditional criminal sub-culture and transnational Muslim prisoners.

Contrasting extremism and radicalisation in a syndemic society.

The purpose of this document is to make recommendations on the necessity to transform current P/CVE policies, emphasizing the importance of a more effective involvement of Politics to contrast the spread of extremism and radicalisation in Europe. In fact, in a syndemic and post-Caliphate world, problems and challenges toward political violence are more and more institutional, systemic, and political. According to the first HORIZON2020 PARTICIPATION PROJECT's results, the crisis of participation and the crisis of integration are closely linked to current extremism and radicalisation processes; at the same time, fragmentation, interrelation between different kind of extremism and hybridisation, request a new approach that involve, in a more effective way, civil society and political society to contrast extremism, radicalisation and terrorism.

Systematic review: YouTube recommendations and problematic content.

There has been much concern that social media, in particular YouTube, may facilitate radicalisation and polarisation of online audiences. This systematic review aimed to determine whether the YouTube recommender system facilitates pathways to problematic content such as extremist or radicalising material. The review conducted a narrative synthesis of the papers in this area. It assessed the eligibility of 1,187 studies and excluded studies using the PRISMA process for systematic reviews, leaving a final sample of 23 studies. Overall, 14 studies implicated the YouTube recommender system in facilitating problematic content pathways, seven produced mixed results, and two did not implicate the recommender system. The review's findings indicate that the YouTube recommender system could lead users to problematic content. However, due to limited access and an incomplete understanding of the YouTube recommender system, the models built by researchers might not reflect the actual mechanisms underlying the YouTube recommender system and pathways to problematic content.