Doing it again. Assessing the features and implications of terrorism recidivism in the context of jihadi attacks in Europe

This article focuses on the issue of terrorism recidivism as it relates specifically to terrorist attacks. Based on the analysis of a dataset comprising information on the jihadi attacks and their perpetrators in Europe between 2014 and 2022, it introduces the following findings: terrorism recidivists are disproportionately more likely to carry out attacks in groups with other “experienced” terrorists; their attacks have a significantly higher impact in terms of casualties; the rate of mental health is remarkably low; and they seem to be able to evade authorities in a much higher percentage of cases than other perpetrators without a terrorism-related criminal record. Overall, these suggest that terrorism recidivist perpetrators operate more “professionally” than the rest of the terrorist perpetrators, making their attacks more lethal and harder to prevent.