Expanding Criminal Laws by Predating Criminal Responsibility : Punishing Planning and Organizing Terrorist Attacks as a Means to Optimize Effectiveness of Fighting Against Terrorism

Abstract

Going after terrorists, often means “fighting the unknown”. The so-called “new threat” cannot be tracked back to known terrorists plotting against known government officials within national boundaries. The need for early investigation is clear, nothing more urgent than to forestall further terrorist actions. Today's sleeper can be tomorrow's terrorist. Hence, the argument herein is that new developments remain as consequent continuation perfecting well-known terrorist strategies and techniques. Instead of predating criminal responsibility the unknown needs to be identified. In refusing such identification current criminal law turns into a soft law reflecting actual social needs by preventing a future wrong. Current German criminal law on terrorism overextends appropriate borders in criminalizing chains of preparations. Punishment is carried out for “thinking different” by way of pre-crime, just symbolizing the wrong. The paper argues that even if criminal responsibility is predated in order to identify the unknown, it has to base on behavior, which can be understood as disorder outside the offender's interim sphere to qualify as criminal wrong. This applies to suspected terrorists and also to all other suspects of crime.