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Prosecuting Suspected Terrorists: Precursor Crimes, Intercept Evidence and the Priority of Security

Stuart Macdonald Orcid Logo

Critical Perspectives on Counter-terrorism

Swansea University Author: Stuart Macdonald Orcid Logo

Abstract

The objective of the pursue strand of the UK’s CONTEST strategy is to reduce the terrorist threat to this country by disrupting terrorists and their operations. A number of methods of disruption are available, including: prosecution; deportation; proscription; seizing and freezing assets; and, Terro...

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Published in: Critical Perspectives on Counter-terrorism
Published: Abingdon Routledge 2014
Online Access: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415855471/
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa16646
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Abstract: The objective of the pursue strand of the UK’s CONTEST strategy is to reduce the terrorist threat to this country by disrupting terrorists and their operations. A number of methods of disruption are available, including: prosecution; deportation; proscription; seizing and freezing assets; and, Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures. Of these, the CONTEST strategy states that the preferred method is prosecution. This chapter examines this so-called ‘priority of prosecution’. Examining the UK's raft of terrorism precursor offences and its self-imposed ban on the use of intercept as evidence, the chapter argues that in fact the emphasis placed on prosecution is equivocal and better understood as a manifestation of the priority that contemporary counterterrorism policies attach to national security.
Keywords: Counterterrorism, terrorism offences, pre-inchoate liability, intercept evidence, security
College: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences