Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

CONTRAS • 121ing, and President Clinton signed into law the Antiterrorism and EffectiveDeath Penalty Act on 24 April 1996.CONFISCATION/IMPOUNDMENT OF PROPERTY. See FREEZ-ING OF ASSETS/ SESQUESTRATION.CONTAGION EFFECT. Tendency for notorious acts of violence orterrorism to inspire imitations of the original act, also sometimescalled “copycat” crimes by law enforcement officials. Because ofthe association of the contagion effect with mass media coverage ofterrorism or other acts of violence, this phenomenon is also referredto as the media effects theory. Typically, an event, such as the OklahomaCity bombing, will be followed by numerous bomb hoaxes orsmall-scale bombings carried out by people who viewed the mediacoverage of the original event. Similarly, the Columbine High Schoolkillings of 20 April 1999 were followed by a number of smaller-scalehigh school shootings and threats of massacres. In a free and democraticsociety it is impossible to forestall whatever contagion effect iscaused by media coverage of a terrorist act. Although antistate terroristsoften have been dealt exemplary punishments, including publicexecution, in undemocratic societies such as Iraq under SaddamHussein and Iran, this seems, if anything, merely to romanticize andglorify further the figure of the antistate terrorist in the perceptionsof those attracted to this activity.Those who have proposed the physiological model of attraction toterrorism have noted that when susceptible individuals are exposedto graphic news coverage of terrorist events or to other scenes ofviolence, they experience a release of adrenalin and noradrenalintriggered by the fight-or-flight response, which in turn triggers therelease of pain-killing endorphins. For the susceptible individual thiscreates a feeling of power and euphoria, which he or she will try torecapture by reenacting the terrorist action.CONTRAS. The contras, short for contrarevolucionarios, (counterrevolutionaries)were the armed groups that began fighting to overthrowthe Sandinista (FSLN) regime that seized power in Nicaragua in 1979.Initially they were trained by Argentinean military advisers, enjoyedsafe haven in Honduras and Costa Rica, and obtained private financialsupport from Cuban and Nicaraguan exiles. The Argentineanswithdrew their advisers from Honduras in 1982 following the collapse