Pre-trial Criminalization of Terrorist Acts

Terrorism is one of the most important challenges of criminal justice in the domestic and international arena. With the increase in terrorist crimes, some governments have taken new measures to protect citizens and maintain the authority of national sovereignty and ensure public order and security. Hence, extensive changes have taken place in the criminal justice system of different countries. Paying attention to the dangerous state (dangerousness) of the perpetrators and repressive responses has led criminals to become more secure. Since prevention in its specific sense and traditional criminalizations (criminologies) are not effective lonely, relying on the concept of danger with preconceived (preemption, anticipation) notion implies a new paradigm in preventing terrorist delinquency in the form of new criminalizations. Premeditated (anticipated) criminality focuses on terrorism-related behaviors and stops the perpetrator himself or herself on the verge of committing a terrorist crime. Instead of waiting for those who seek to commit a terrorist crime to succeed, legislatures are expanding the scope of criminal law to bring the struggle to their knees. Thus, by creating an active and prepared state in criminal law, they either move the realm of criminal law beyond the attempt of a crime or collusion (conspiracy), or by criminalizing crimes related to a terrorist crime or temporary intervention measures, intended for “before the threat”, extend criminal law as far as possible with the aim of preemption (anticipation) in the fight against terrorism.