Bruce Allen Scharlau PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

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disturbances. This supports the above thesis that the 'psychologically
disturbed' model is not valid for left-wing terrorism in the Federal
Republic of Germany. Psychological processes are involved, as elsewhere
in political science, but the 'insane' model is not.
3.2 Data on Left-Wing West Gennan Terrorists
Two studies provide the main basis for examination of the lives of
individual left-wing West German terrorists. They are not ideal
references, but are, nonetheless, something to generate ideas of what
mayor may not contribute to terrorist motivation.
The examination contains the subjects' social origins, their
childhood experiences with regards to moving home and problems with the
authorities, socialisation after leaving home, key experiences and
people, available options of protest and terrorism, and desertion from
the terrorist groups.
In each of these sections the concept of
identification aids understanding the motivation of the individuals.
In 1981 a study was published of 250 persons who, until the end of
1978, had been
ei ther sought for arrest, accused or tried because of
proscribed actions against paragraph 129a StGB
[Criminal Code Book], or (according to the contents of
the convictions that were against them) were convicted
if paragraph 129a StGB had been in force. 84
Of the 250 persons studied, twenty-three were right-wing and the
other 227 left-wing terrorists. 175 were men, and seventy-five women. 85
This is not the best social scientific data gathering, making it
appear that judicial and social scientific definitions of terrorism are
equal. Nor does this data always provide comparisons with the population
at large or any other type of control group. The study also exhibits the
problem of uneven data compilation by the judicial authorities so
slinilar data is not always available for each person. 86 The absence of a
similar study based on a social science definition of terrorism forces
the use of the study, which does offer a cQnparison of persons
considered terrorists by the state.
A less thorough study published in 1977 compared 350 terrorists
active between 1966 and 1976 in eighteen different urban terrorist
groups. The West German groups were the Red Army Faction and the Second
84 Schmidtchen, 19. Between 1971 and 1980 209 people were sentenced
for left-wing terrorist activities according to Die Welt 11 August 1981.
Thus the 227 from the study is inflated with suspects and supporters.
85 ibid., 77.
86 Schmidtchen, 18; Post (1990), 28-9; Reinhard Kreissl, "Die
Studien zum Terrorismus", Kritische Justiz 16 (1983), 311-324, 314.