Jihadist lone wolfs’: terrorists, murderers or believers? Back to an actor-based criminal law

Abstract

Some of the precursor crimes have been dispersed widely by regional sponsors and have reached Spain in the Ley Orgánica 2/2015 in order to contend with acts of (self-)radicalisation, (self-)indoctrination, and (self-)training. In the context of terrorism taking the form of the 'jihadist lone wolf', precursor crimes aim to neutralise risk from the moment of access to internet contents or other contacts which might manifest interest in terrorism or terrorism-related beliefs. Two concerns are raised. The first is conceptual: can we speak of 'terrorism' - individual or of any sort - without a firm prediction of criminal action and a political goal? The second concern relates to democratic legitimacy and the implications of suppression on liberty and security at a stage when subjective dangerousness -a favourable disposition towards distant crimes which is bolstered by ideological profiles - is the basis for state action.