Proposals being considered by the Victorian government and police to impose curfews and internet bans on teenagers they suspect may become terrorists reveals just how poorly authorities understand radicalisation and those most vulnerable to it, experts have said.
If implemented, the proposal would drive teenagers vulnerable to the influence of Islamic State further underground, said Dr David Malet, a terrorism and international security researcher who has published a book about recruits to overseas insurgencies.
The state government on Monday confirmed police had approached them, seeking powers to force those they identify as potential terrorists into deradicalisation programs, restrict who they associate with, and ban them from using the internet.
“I think this proposal is very likely to backfire spectacularly,” Malet, from the University of Melbourne, said. “It creates an image of Soviet-style threat reduction programs, where you go after people for their world views rather than their actions.
“That is only going to heighten the sense of alienation that those most likely to consume radical propaganda feel, while giving groups like Islamic State a talking point to tell these young people; ‘You’re being targeted for being who you are and for wanting to use the internet to seek the truth’.”
The proposal, which is under consideration by the government and subject to an independent judiciary review, would target teenagers deemed to be radicalised, regardless of whether they were planning to join conflict overseas or carry out a terrorist attack.
Malet said Australian authorities were focusing too heavily on the internet as the source of recruitment to terrorist organisations, and on punitive, law-and-order approaches to prevent recruitment.
“People were being recruited into radical groups decades before the rise of social media and the internet,” he said.
“It’s not the medium, it’s the message, which is resonating with these people. Because these young people feel alienated, they are drawn to groups who tell them they can be part of something, find meaning, make a difference and become a hero.
“These kids don’t believe they have a stake in society here, so they go somewhere else.”
Implementing tough, law-and-order approaches that revolved around curfews and bans, would send a message to would-be jihadists that they were more than “maladjusted teenagers”, Malet said.
“You’re elevating them to the greatest threat to civilisation, and it makes them look powerful,” he said.
Governments around the world are assessing how to prevent people, especially vulnerable teenagers, falling under the influence of Isis and joining them in the Middle East.
In May senior policymakers, military officials, police and researchers met in Canberra to discuss how to stop Australians from joining groups in Syria and Iraq, with authorities estimating up to 100 Australians have joined the conflict.
A deradicalisation expert from Curtin University, associate professor Anne Aly, said authorities were trying to identify who was at risk of becoming radicalised using flawed measures. This was why trying to force those they identified as at risk into programs was problematic, she said.
“Every single piece of research says you can’t pick who is going to become radicalised,” Aly said.
“These proposed measures are absolutely counterproductive, and to even suggest them makes me angry because you can bet your bottom dollar that their measures or indicators of radicalisation are based on a shallow understanding of the radicalisation process.”
The websites people accessed, who they associated with, their ideas, and their physical appearance were poor indicators of whether someone was vulnerable to Isis propaganda and likely to commit a terrorist act, Aly said.
“I don’t understand why we keep using these indicators,” she said. “My research on foreign fighters and lone actors suggests that radicalisation to violence is being overlooked, and we need to revisit that component of radicalisation.
“Precursors to violence, such as whether someone has a violent background or criminal history, is something which is factored into studies on other kinds of criminals and yet for some reason, not foreign fighters.
“We need to ask whether young people are engaging with the symbolism of these groups because it gives them a framework for their already existing anger and violence.”
Police were not consulting widely enough to understand the issue and respond to it in an evidence-based way, Aly said.
“I don’t know what police know, and I don’t pretend to have their data or information,” she said. “But maybe they are not adequately understanding the information they have.”
The secretary of the Islamic Council of Victoria, Kuranda Seyit, said he wanted to see more details about the proposal by the police.
The problem was authorities often engaged with his organisation and Muslim leaders on a superficial level, making it difficult for them to scrutinise and react to policy before it was implemented, he said.
“When it comes to authorities engaging with Muslim community leaders, it’s more about reassurance and keeping the relationship going, that sort of consultation is definitely there,” Seyit said.
“But in terms of strategies, policies and programs targeting our communities, there hasn’t been much consultation at all, whether with us or academics in the field. It’s really disappointing, because we keep hearing about proposals, such as stripping suspected terrorists of their dual citizenship, through the media.”
It was a shame because the council was not necessarily opposed to the measures being requested by Victorian police, Seyit said.
If forcing teenagers into deradicalisation programs and restricting their internet use meant they were spared criminal charges and being brought before a court, it could be positive, he said.
For those teenagers who had not yet committed a violent crime, it was important they were given the opportunity to become contributing members of society at a time when they were at the threshold of adulthood, he said.
“We need to find an alternative to people’s homes being raided, even when they don’t end up being charged, and a model of law enforcement based heavily on surveillance,” Seyit said.
“We need to find out more details about this proposal and it’s too early to make any stronger statements about whether we support it or not.
“We need detail about how it will be implemented and whether these deradicalisation programs people will be placed in provide a supportive, mentoring environment rather than a punitive one.”