Hostage-Taking: Motives, Resolution, Coping and Effects David A
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Advances in psychiatric treatment (2010), vol. 16, 176–183 doi: 10.1192/apt.bp.108.005991 ARTICLE Hostage-taking: motives, resolution, coping and effects David A. Alexander & Susan Klein David A. Alexander is Professor Definition of Mental Health, and Director of SUMMARY the Aberdeen Centre for Trauma Taking hostages has a long history as a method, with ‘Hostage-taking’ is a lay term and refers to the Research at The Robert Gordon variable effectiveness, of securing concessions detention of an individual, against their will and University, Aberdeen. He also from individuals, organisations and governments. without legal authority, for a particular motive. acts as a police consultant and lectures at the Scottish Police More recently, it has become a popular tactic among In the UK, there is no crime of hostage-taking. College on hostage negotiation terrorist organisations. Although the resilience The relevant criminal offences are ‘kidnapping’ and crisis management. Susan of individuals should never be underestimated, (in English law) and ‘abduction’ (in Scottish law). Klein is reader in trauma research there is evidence that being taken hostage can For convenience, the generic, non-legal term of at the Aberdeen Centre for Trauma have enduring effects, particularly on children. ‘hostage-taking’ will be used throughout this Research. Individuals vary in how they cope with such an Correspondence Professor David article. A. Alexander, Aberdeen Centre experience, both during and subsequent to it. The for Trauma Research, Faculty of literature demonstrates that the research base is Health and Social Care, The Robert limited, and many important questions remain to be Motives Gordon University, Garthdee Road, answered. Hostage-taking is an area of clinical and Historical Aberdeen AB10 7QG, UK. Email: scientific interest. Apart from the need to establish [email protected] the most effective post-incident interventions The taking of another person as a means of for individual hostages and their families, there obtaining concessions has a long history. The are opportunities to develop further insights Ancient Romans took hostage, for example, into the dynamics and effects of unequal power the sons of princes as a means of guaranteeing relationships. subservience and fulfilment of obligations of their DeclaratiON OF INTEREST conquered regions. In medieval times, the taking of None. knights hostage occurred in accordance with their ransom value. By means of their heraldic devices, the knights indicated their personal value; ‘highly Although the history of hostage-taking is a very prized’ knights were much less likely to be killed. long one, only relatively recently has there been a The word ‘kidnap’ derives from two etymological systematic attempt to understand its effects, both roots – ‘kid’ (i.e. child) and ‘nap’ (i.e. to snatch) long term and short term, on individuals and their – and was first associated with the stealing of families. This is an important issue for clinical children for deportation to the North American and academic reasons. First, the advice of mental colonies for employment purposes. health professionals is sought with increasing frequency with regard to the strategic, tactical and Contemporary operational management of a hostage incident as There are many motives for contemporary well as to the clinical management of those who hostage-taking. Prisoners in penal institutions have been taken hostage. There is evidence to may take hostages in an effort to highlight some suggest that how best to help those who have been perceived grievance and/or to obtain a change in taken hostage is a sensitive and complex matter, their circumstances. Criminals, interrupted in the and those who deal with such individuals should pursuit of another crime, may take a hostage in an be as well informed as is possible. Thus, this article effort to secure their escape from apprehension. will address: ‘Tiger kidnapping’ refers to an event where an •• the terminology associated with hostage-taking, individual is taken hostage to induce, for example, motives for taking a hostage, and the authorities’ a loved one, friend or colleague to commit a certain responses thereto act such as the withdrawal of ransom money •• how individuals appear to cope with such an from a bank or building society. Particularly in incident South America, ‘express kidnapping’ is a common •• the effects of being taken hostage phenomenon. It entails the seeking of only a small •• areas that require further research. ransom which the families can easily pay. Some 176 Advances in psychiatric treatment (2010), vol. 16, 176–183 doi: 10.1192/apt.bp.108.005991 Hostage-taking individuals with mental illness also take hostages incidents in the USA, the suppression model in response to their disturbed mood, thoughts prevailed, and overwhelming force was used as and fears. the principal method of resolving them (Needham Most recently, we have become familiar with 1977). However, high-profile failed rescue efforts politically inspired hostage-taking by terrorist confirm how dangerous armed intervention can be organisations to achieve some political end, such to hostages. The German authorities’ attempted as the evacuation of Iraq by the Coalition Forces rescue of the Israeli wrestling team, who had been and by foreign workers. A feature of some of these taken hostage by the Black September group at incidents is a videotaped beheading of the hostage, the 1972 Munich Olympics, resulted in the deaths and its subsequent transmission through Al of all hostages (Jonas 2005). More recently, armed Jazeera and/or the Al Arabia television channels. intervention in response to the incidents pertaining It is a contentious issue (and one too complex to to the Dubrovka Theatre in Moscow (in 2002) and be explored here), but some would argue that the to the Beslan school (in 2004) resulted in the deaths USA, with or without the complicity of the UK, has of 130 and 334 hostages respectively (Speckhard engaged in a form of hostage-taking masked by the 2004; Giduck 2005). euphemism of ‘rendition’. Successful resolution by force requires It should be noted that terrorism-inspired exceptional training, planning and execution, incidents of hostage-taking may differ from as was demonstrated by the Special Air Service others. Hostage-taking by terrorists tends to (SAS), who secured the safe release of all hostages involve well-trained and well-organised groups, taken by the anti-Khomeini terrorists who seized and their hostages are likely to have been carefully the Iranian Embassy in London in 1980 (Fremont- chosen, particularly in anticipation of the likely Barnes 2009). effect that their abduction will have on others. Media involvement is nearly always a deliberately Negotiation manufactured feature of such events. Negotiation is now widely recognised, at least in These are pragmatic descriptions of motives, Western countries, as the first-choice intervention and Lipsedge (2004) has referred to a two-category (Soskis 1986). Negotiation consumes time and classification. Motives can be identified as ‘instru- there fore helps to reduce the arousal levels of the mental’, i.e. acts which seek a specific concrete aim perpetrators, hostages and first responders; it also such as obtaining a ransom. Alternatively, they can enables the authorities to gather intelligence and be described as ‘expressive’, in that their primary plan a resolution strategy. In the UK, nego tiat ing aim is to enable the perpetrator to seek revenge the release of a hostage is the responsibility of and/or to express some pent up frustration, anger the police. In the case of UK nationals abducted or other emotion. Generally, incidents which are abroad, the UK government has the responsibility not politically motivated tend to have a successful to ensure their safe release. This responsibility is and safe resolution (Lipsedge 2004). exercised through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in London, and the UK’s Embassies Resolution and High Commissions. The Hostage and Crisis Negotiation Unit of the Metropolitan Police is the Where hostages are detained will influence the unit through which UK governmental strategy is negotiation process and shape the likelihood of a coordinated. The FCO also part-funds Reunite safe release. If the stronghold (i.e. the specific place International (www.reunite.org), a leading UK where the hostage is being detained) is known to charity which specialises in international abduc- and accessible to the authorities, this has some tions by parents. In addition, there is the national advantages, including secure containment and organisation pioneered by Terry Waite to provide opportunities for manipulating the perpetrators’ care, advice and information for UK nationals environment (e.g. by cutting off power supplies). taken hostage abroad (www.hostageuk.org). Negotiations and rescue operations are made more difficult if the hostages are held where the local population is hostile to the hostage’s country Effects of being taken hostage of origin. Individual reactions The psychological impact of being taken hostage Rescue by force will to some extent reflect the specific features The use of force to rescue hostages is a complex of the event, including: its duration; whether the and sensitive matter. Attitudes have changed over hostages have been physically, sexually and/or time. Particularly in response to prison hostage psychologically abused; whether there has been a Advances in psychiatric treatment