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Indy100 Staff
Feb 10, 2015
Unsure if your teenager is a juvenile delinquent or a budding jihadist? The US now has a rating system to help find out, according to a document obtained by investigative site The Intercept.
The document, 'Countering Violent Extremism: a Guide for Practitioners and Analysts', is dated May 2014 and purportedly comes from the National Counterterrorism Centre, set up in 2004 by the US government.
Its 'assessing risk' section contains a quiz designed to be used by police, social workers and teachers to find people and communities at risk of radicalisation. It ranks individuals by factors such as their trust in institutions, whether they have committed violent acts, how bonded they are to their family and ethnic group, and whether they have expressed hopelessness or futility.
Sample questions from the document
The document follows the French government's recent chart warning of the early signs of radicalisation, including stopping eating baguettes and giving up sports. It also has echoes of widely ridiculed recent plans drawn up in Britain by the Home Office under its counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent, where nursery staff would be forced to report toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists.
The consultation document on the Prevent Strategy stated: “Senior management and governors are expected to assess the risk of pupils being drawn into terrorism, including support for the extremist ideas that are part of terrorist ideology.”
Conservative MP David Davis said of the plans last month: "It is hard to see how this can be implemented. It is unworkable. I have to say I cannot understand what they [nursery staff] are expected to do."
More: Countering violent extremism: a guide for practitioners and analysts
More: Not sure if you're a jihadist? French govt has a handy chart
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