Characteristics of Female Terrorism: Psychological Motives, Social Roles, Recruitment Methods

Introduction: the need for effective psychocorrective work with persons convicted of terrorismrelated crimes, focused on the correction of these persons, does not raise any doubt. Even greater relevance to the problematic issues considered in the publication is given by the fact that we are talking about females. A not so significant number of convicts in this category, as well as gender psychological characteristics, determine the relevance and significance of aspects of psychological work with women convicted of terrorism-related crimes. Purpose: to determine roles and psychological motives of women in the commission of terrorism-related crimes and disclose methods of their recruitment. The study (83 women convicted of terrorism-related crimes) was conducted in the period from 2014 to 2022 with the help of the following methods: survey and analytical, providing a theoretical analysis of literary sources; empirical, involving the use of psychodiagnostic techniques, author’s questionnaires and questionnaires designed to determine general and sociopsychological characteristics of persons convicted of terrorism. The study covered 83 women convicted of terrorism-related crimes. The analysis of empirical material and scientific sources helps identify key trends of female terrorism, the role, psychological motives of behavior and methods of recruiting potential terrorists. Recommendations for conducting psychocorrective work with the appropriate category of persons are developed. Conclusion: the experience of psychocorrective work of correctional psychologists with women convicted of terrorism-related crimes has not been sufficiently studied due to the small number of this category in correctional institutions; the analysis of scientific data makes it possible to determine key reasons for women’s involvement in terrorismrelated crimes, as well as the roles and motives for which they were involved. Understanding mechanisms and motives of women’s involvement in terrorism-related crimes, psychologists of correctional institutions can conduct psychocorrection with this category of convicts.