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Can self-destructive killers be classified so easily?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2014

Vincent Egan
Vincent Egan*
Affiliation:
Centre for Family and Forensic Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Applied Psychology, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus, Nottingham NG8 1BB, United Kingdom. Vincent.egan@nottingham.ac.ukhttp://www.nottingham.ac.uk/medicine/about/psychiatryandappliedpsychology/people/vincent.egan
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Abstract

Lankford makes many useful points regarding the myths and shibboleths underlying our understanding of self-destructive killers and suicide bombers. He has collated an impressive data set on such offenders. However, his classification scheme is not built on sufficient evidence to support his proposed discrete categories of conventional, coerced, escapist, and indirect suicide terrorists. It would be straightforward to analyse the data, but it is unlikely that the resulting model would reflect that anticipated.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , August 2014 , pp. 365 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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