French Report: Demographics of Bad Actors
April 20, 2018
If this report is to be believed, a demographic segment may come under increased scrutiny, online and offline. The Local lays out the results of a recent study from the director of publications at the French Institute of International Relations, Marc Hecker, in the write-up, “Aged 26, Poor, and Already a Criminal: Who Is the Typical French Jihadist?” The sample size was not large—137 people who had been convicted of Islamist- or jihad-related terror offences in France, most of whom were French nationals. The write-up shares a number of specific findings, including this bit of interest to IT folks: Though jihadists do use the internet extensively for networking and coordination, most become radicalized through extensive in-person contact; they have not been enticed simply by material found online. The article also reports:
“Out of the 137 cases, 131 were men and six were women. The average age of those at the time they were charged was 26, with 90 percent of them coming from large broken families and 40 percent coming from poor backgrounds. Of the 137 jihadists looked at by the study, some 74 percent were born Muslim while the remaining 26 percent converted during their lifetime. Although in general the study found there was a low level of religious knowledge among the individuals. Some 47 percent of the 68 French jihadists whose education records were available left school with no qualifications while 26 percent passed their baccalaureate and 11 percent graduated from university. Some 36 percent were unemployed at the time of arrest while another 22 percent were in low-paid unstable jobs (emploi précaire). More than half of those charged with Islamist terror offences were in a couple (57 percent). IFRI says the study shows “that these individuals are distinguished by a lower level of education and professional integration, a higher degree of poverty, a greater involvement in crime and a closer relationship to North and sub-Saharan Africa than the average population of France.”
One more key statistic—about 40 percent of respondents had already been convicted of at least one crime, while another 8 had been reported to police with no conviction. So, those already inclined toward criminality may be more likely to see violence as a viable tool for change; imagine that. The study also found that the process of radicalization takes months or, in 30 percent of cases, several years. A preview of Hecker’s study can be found here.
Cynthia Murrell, April 20, 2018
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