Preventing the Next Generation: Mapping the Pathways of Children s Mobilization into Violent Extremist Organizations
Abstract
The research effort will seek to assess and understand the growing phenomenon of children and adolescents’ involvement in terrorist activities across and within multiple arenas. The project will identify the mechanisms used for children’s mobilization, and will compare and contrast these trajectories with those of child soldiers and children’s involvement with gangs and cults. Project tasks include: 1. To develop the first empirical model integrating grooming theories, model of social ecology, and adaptation that reflects how children engage with terrorist groups and Violent Extremist Organizations (VEOs) through a review of open sources on children and terrorism and through consultation with in country informants such as social workers, therapists, and psychologists. 2. To refine the empirical model of how children engage with terrorist groups based upon ethnographic interviews with (now adult) former child terrorists, family members, social workers, community members, and law enforcement. 3. To use this model to develop a set of recommendations for multi-level, culturally-appropriate models for the intervention and prevention of children engaging in violent extremism.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512049
Entities
People
- Mia Bloom
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Massachusetts