“TERRORISTS” OR “UNBALANCED” MASS MURDERERS?

Abstract

Individuals identified as mass murderers have very disparate
profiles that represent a broad spectrum of human behaviors
whose motivations are sometimes at the antipodes of others.
The way to the extremism does not necessarily lead to terrorism, nor does it fall within the mental illness. On the
other hand, people suffering from psychiatric disorders can
be permeable to all forms of proselytism whether islamist,
supremacist, anarchist or other.
In a context where the multiplication of isolated acts is
to be feared, or misunderstandings persist on the frontier
between psychology and psychiatry, or porosity between the
unbalanced criminal and the isolated terrorist blur the
tracks and make delicate all interpretations. This article
attempts to provide some criminological insight into these
acting out, the public response and the role of each, as well
as the current texts concerning professional secrecy.