Terrorist Groups, Domestic

The Definition of Domestic Terrorism

Although distinguishing terrorist acts from routine criminal acts is difficult, a working definition is necessary to begin our discussion of domestic terrorism. White (2002) argues that acts of domestic terrorism are often labeled routine crimes. Official statistics are misleading because local law enforcement often labels domestic terrorism under nonterrorist headings in the Uniform Crime Report (UCR).

Most definitions of terrorism do not discriminate between international and domestic terrorism, and focus on three distinct elements: method, target, and purpose of violence (Kushner, 1998). Two definitions are provided below:

These definitions are helpful, but we focus here on terrorist acts committed by Americans against Americans within the United States.

Typologies of Domestic Terrorists: Right-Wing versus Left-Wing Extremists

Terrorist researchers have also differed in their classifications of domestic terrorist groups. White (2002) points out that researchers have classified terrorist groups by how governments respond to them, as guides to investigation (Cooper, 1979), and for criminological analysis (Smith, 1994). Smith's (1994) classification system covers right-wing extremists, left-wing extremists, and international terrorists. He argues that left-wing groups vary considerably in terms of tactics, strategies, and ideology, but right-wing groups are more consistent. Drawing from Smith's analysis, we will compare the ideologies, economic views, base of operations, tactics, and targets of both the right- and left-wing terrorist groups.