From Criminals to Terrorism and Back? Quarterly Report 2018 France

This is the 1st of the ten quarterly reports from the teams based in the field (11 top terrorism arrestee countries) working on GLOBSEC’s From Criminals to Terrorists and Back? It was written by Pierre Colomina, Olivier de France (both of IRIS, Paris) and Damien Saverot (Middle East Department, ENS, Paris) and covers the findings from the study of the first 32 French jihadists arrested for terrorism offences in 2015 and subsequently convicted of terrorism.

The crime-terror nexus in France appears to be composed of “in-betweeners” rather than hardened criminals: low-to-mid-level delinquents and “polycriminals” who seized opportunities.

Most of these individuals are French-born citizens or French citizens naturalized after their emigration to the French territory, where they spent most of their lives. French terrorist groups are mostly based in homegrown networks, but many individuals were part of the French/Belgian network, which is split between the two countries.