The Current Context of the Relationship between Private Security and Acts of Terrorism

Abstract

It is hardly an exaggeration to say that terror has become part of our daily lives and we must rethink what we have previously considered acts of terror. It is becoming more and more commonplace to hear news about suicide bombers, fanatics who blow themselves up at railway stations or on the subway. This media coverage, while primarily, on the one hand, concerned with the victims, the dead, the injured and the traumatised, also serves to highlight the leniency with which some of the perpetrators, terrorists, have been treated by the legal system and the lack of deterrence the current criminal law provides.
One of the major lessons of the past two decades is that states are unable to guarantee security through civil bodies. It is therefore appropriate to consider whether, and to what extent citizens, citizens’ organizations or even economic operators can be involved in the maintenance of public security. “Without community activity, the state can never fulfil its vocation”, points out Zsolt Németh. “Public security”, he stresses, “is a collective social product, far from being a product of law enforcement activity”.
In my study, I analyse the concept of terrorism, the forms in which it presents itself, the criminal law pertaining to acts of terror, and then I examine the issues raised with regards to the area of private security.