NYPD’s radicalization model makes Muslim identity itself a predictor of terrorism

Evidence

In 2007, the NYPD produced a document titled Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat, in which it argues that there are four stages of radicalization: pre-radicalization, self-identification, indoctrination, and jihadization. According to this model, all young Muslim males from middle-class and immigrant families fall into the pre-radicalization stage. In short, simply being a member of this group places one on a conveyor belt aimed toward “radicalization.” Now if, by some chance, a member of this group should give up smoking, drinking, and gambling and start to grow a beard and wear traditional Islamic clothing, he is on the fast track toward acquiring “Jihadi-Salafist ideology,” which puts him squarely in the next stage: “self-identification.” Another characteristic of “self-identification” is political awareness and community activism. By the third stage, “indoctrination,” the NYPD tells us, the person has withdrawn from the mosque and has become politicized around a set of new beliefs leading to the fourth stage, “jihadization,” which is when he becomes ready to plan a terrorist attack. Signs of reaching this fourth stage include conducting research on the Internet, performing reconnaissance activity, and acquiring materials. While the report states that there is no profile for a potential terrorist, the thrust of its analysis is precisely about creating such a profile and predicting the activity of potential terrorists. Based on data from a grand total of ten cases, the report states that there is “remarkable consistency in the behaviors and trajectory of each of the plots across the stages” and that “this consistency provides a tool for predictability.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 486

Categorization

• DEFINE: Crisply lays out the four-stage NYPD radicalization framework — the operative pseudoscience that justifies profiling.
• XREF: The ‘conveyor belt’ radicalization model is the concrete instance of the pseudoscientific theories Kumar’s broader argument and Selod’s work on racialized Muslim identity both attack. — connects to: The NYPD radicalization theory equated growing piety with growing terrorist risk. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 574; The NYPD surveilled ordinary Muslim community spaces designated as radicalization incubators. — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 575; NYPD’s anti-Muslim surveillance produced zero terrorism leads over six years — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 32 (+13 more)
• SEED: Angle for an essay: the absurdity that political awareness and community activism are coded as ‘radicalization’ signs — how the state pathologizes civic engagement.

Broader Connections

• State-perpetuated fear racializes Muslim bodies as terrorist enemies #expands (0.80)
• Orientalist stereotypes institutionalized in government agencies drive Muslim policing #expands (0.75) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 126
• CVE engagement localized the Muslim-terrorism presumption on police and communities #exemplifies (0.70) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 328
• Clash of civilizations framing located terrorism’s cause within Islam itself #corroborates (0.60) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 266
• Suspicion of Muslims is based on association rather than evidence #corroborates (0.60)