Terrorism is defined by third-party violence against incidental victims, not targets or means

Evidence

Terrorism is a strategy of violence designed to force desired sociopolitical changes by instilling fear in the public at large. Public intimidation is a key element that distinguishes terrorism from other forms of violence. In conventional violence, victims are personally targeted. Terrorism relies on third-party violence in which the identity of the victims is incidental to the terrorists’ purposes. Terroristic violence is directed at civilians and essential infrastructure to pressure the government to change its policies and practices. It is neither the ends nor the severity of the operational means but the third party that characterizes terrorism. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2103

Categorization

• DEFINE: Pins down the defining feature of terrorism as third-party violence, distinguishing it from personal-target killing.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2103
• XREF: connects to: State violence against civilians is rarely labeled terrorism; Terrorism is defined by attacking incidental third parties, not by ends or severity.; Terrorism is defined by illegality, not by who commits it