Animus toward Muslims and its association with public support for punitive counter-terrorism policies: did the Christchu
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Animus toward Muslims and its association with public support for punitive counter-terrorism policies: did the Christchurch terrorist attack mitigate this association? Harley Williamson 1
& Kristina
Murphy 1,2
Accepted: 19 October 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Objectives We apply Unnever and Cullen’s (2010) Racial Animus Model to examine support for punitive counter-terrorism policies before and after the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack. Methods We utilize a natural experiment of survey data from Australians before (n = 1191) and after (n = 1344) the attack. Both surveys included a between-groups vignette describing a terrorist as either a right-wing or Islamic extremist. We examined if support for counter-terrorism policies differed between the two conditions and two surveys. We tested whether perceiving Muslims as threatening predicted support for punitive policies, and if the attack mitigated this association. Results Participants were more supportive of punitive policies when a terrorist was motivated by Islamic extremism, but only in the pre-Christchurch sample. Those who perceived Muslims as threatening were more supportive of such policies, but this association was weaker among post-Christchurch participants. Conclusions Results support the Racial Animus Model and suggest that empathy might play a role in weakening anti-Muslim animus. Keywords Punitive attitudes . Countering terrorism . Racial animus . Threat perceptions .
Muslims . Christchurch shootings
* Harley Williamson [email protected] Kristina Murphy [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
H. Williamson, K. Murphy
Introduction Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA, the pervasive threat of terrorism has spurred the introduction and expansion of a range of preventative and reactive counter-terrorism measures by authorities around the world (Roach 2011). In Western democracies, these measures have been criticized because they disproportionately focus on Islamic extremism and consequently, Muslim communities (Breen-Smyth 2014). However, the recent Christchurch terrorist attack spotlighted the growing threat posed by right-wing extremism (Blackbourn et al. 2019). On March 15th, 2019, Brenton Tarrant—a 28-year old Australian and self-professed right-wing extremist—entered two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, with an arsenal of loaded firearms and began shooting at Muslims attending Friday prayers. The attack killed 51 Muslims, including children, and injured a further 49 (Battersby and Ball 2019). The perpetrator live-streamed the event to social media. Tarrant was arrested, pleaded guilty to 92 charges—including one of engaging in a terrorist act—and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Tarrant’s sentencing marked the first terrorism conviction in New Zealand’s history. The Christchurch attack stood in stark contrast to many other large-scale post-9/11 terrorist attacks because it was perpetrated by a right-wing extremist against Muslims (Black
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