Our Inner Demons: Prosecuting Domestic Terrorism

The United States does not currently have a uniform framework for how it handles domestic terrorism. Although there is a terrorism section of the criminal code that criminalizes certain actions that are deemed terroristic, these laws are applied disproportionately to those with an Islamic ideology. Political motivations and protectionist interests within the United States tend to prevent similar crimes committed in the name of, for example, right-wing terrorism to be convicted under the terrorism section of the criminal code. In light of the threat posed by domestic terrorism and other trends in the political and cultural ethos, the current state of the law is inadequate to address the problem and unjustly places a stigma on one subsection of the population. In the interest of equality under the eyes of the law, our judicial system should incorporate a uniform domestic terrorism statute that is applied based on the actions of an individual, not based on their belief systems or individual backgrounds.