How Do Kidnappers Kill Hostages? A Comparison of Terrorist and Criminal Groups

Abstract

This study explores how hostages are murdered during a kidnapping for ransom. A multi-dimensional scaling procedure was used to explore the homicidal behavior of kidnappers. Three styles of homicide, labeled as execution, manual, and slaughter, were identified. Each varied in the degree of expressive/instrumental aggression and planned or spontaneous violence. Classification of the sample data found that 46.4% of kidnapping homicides were characterized by instrumental violence labeled as execution style, whereas 42.9% were characterized by hostile violence that was spontaneous and less reliant on using a weapon (manual style). These observations related to the type of group conducting the kidnapping for ransom.

Detecting the Determinants and Trajectories of Homicide Among Ransom Kidnappings: A Research Note

“…Common criminal groups were more likely to kill their victims spontaneously than organized criminals or terrorists. This finding suggests that the expertise of offenders may be predictive of victim outcomes (Phillips, 2015). Common criminal groups are less experienced in K&R than other groups and may act more impulsively while negotiating for ransom payments.…”

“…The findings revealed that specific forms of violence were predictive of outcomes while the type of group was not. In a similar study, Phillips (2015) investigated how ransomed victims were killed in captivity as a proxy measure for rationality. Evidence showed that about half of the victims died execution style and half were the product of spontaneous violence (i.e., generally killed without a weapon and more barbaric in nature).…”

“…Evidence showed that about half of the victims died execution style and half were the product of spontaneous violence (i.e., generally killed without a weapon and more barbaric in nature). Phillips (2015) concluded that spontaneous violence was the result of an offender acting out on impulse rather than in a planned, rational way. Common criminal groups were more likely to kill their victims spontaneously than organized criminals or terrorists.…”

“…Indeed, the recent beheadings of kidnapped American citizens carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in Iraq and Syria prominently display the apparent high likelihood of victims being killed. Some published research has also implicated a somewhat high proportion of death among victims (Phillips, 2015). 1 More recent research, which relied on perhaps the largest systematically collected repository of kidnappings, however, found that only about 5% of kidnapped victims were killed (Pires, Guerette, & Stubbert, 2014).…”

“…As is often told in media reports of terrorist-based kidnappings, many of the offender groups who carry out kidnappings are declared to be driven by strong religious or political ideologies, things that often fuel great emotional sentiment. Indeed, one study that analyzed the methods used by kidnappers to kill their victims found that a substantial proportion were characterized by “hostile” and “spontaneous” violence, which suggests that they were emotionally driven (Phillips, 2015). If this is true and the killing of kidnapped victims is a form of expressive violence, then few patterns should exist across samples of victims.…”