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Psicothema was founded in Asturias (northern Spain) in 1989, and is published jointly by the Psychology Faculty of the University of Oviedo and the Psychological Association of the Principality of Asturias (Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos del Principado de Asturias).
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Psicothema, 2008. Vol. Vol. 20 (nº 1). 35-42




Is counter-terrorism policy evidence-based? What works, what harms, and what is unknown

Cynthia Lum, Leslie W. Kennedy* and Alison Sherley*

George Mason University and * School of Criminal Justice and Center for the Study of Public Security

Is counter-terrorism policy evidence-based? What works, what harms, and what is unknown. One of the central concerns surrounding counter-terrorism interventions today, given the attention and money spent on them, is whether such interventions are effective. To explore this issue, we conducted a general review of terrorism literature as well as a Campbell systematic review on counter-terrorism strategies. In this article, we summarize some of our findings from these works. Overall, we found an almost complete absence of evaluation research on counter-terrorism strategies and conclude that counter-terrorism policy is not evidence-based. The findings of this review emphasise the need for government leaders, policy makers, researchers, and funding agencies to include and insist on evaluations of the effectiveness of these programs in their agendas.

Una de las mayores preocupaciones de las políticas antiterroristas es su efectividad, dado el gasto en¿Está basada la política antiterrorista en la evidencia? Lo que es efectivo, lo que es perjudicial, y lo desconocido. orme que suponen. Para explorar este punto llevamos a cabo una revisión sobre la literatura en general del terrorismo, así como una revisión Campbell sobre las estrategias antiterroristas. En conjunto hallamos casi una ausencia completa de evidencia sobre estos programas, y concluimos que la política antiterrorista no está basada en la evidencia. Esta revisión enfatiza la necesidad de que los políticos, los investigadores y los responsables de la gestión de estas políticas acentúen la necesidad de promover la evaluación de la efectividad de esos programas.

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Impact factor 2022:  JCR WOS 2022:  FI = 3.6 (Q2);  JCI = 1.21 (Q1) / SCOPUS 2022:  SJR = 1.097;  CiteScore = 6.4 (Q1)