America's response to terrorism: An empirical analysis of federal intervention strategies during the 1980s

Despite considerable interest among criminologists, the literature on terrorism has been largely atheoretical and nonempirical. This paper provides the results of a national study of federal criminal cases that arose from the FBI's Counterterrorism Program during the 1980s. The strategies of federal prosecutors are discussed in relation to Turk's notions of “explicit politicality” and “exceptional vagueness.” Evidence shows that in keeping with historical studies of American political crime, prosecutorial efforts to depict terrorists as common criminals have been the most frequently used and most successful strategy. Prosecutors' efforts to explicitly politicize the terrorists' crimes have been largely unsuccessful and are rarely employed.