Examining the relevance of ‘EVIL DONE’ to the current terrorist threat landscape in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Since the release of the Clarke and Newman’s ‘EVIL DONE’ framework in 2006, there has been limited empirical research on its capacity to predict target attractiveness and vulnerability as intended. This study investigated the utility of the framework in the context of the current United Kingdom (UK) threat landscape, including additions from the [Marchment, Z., & Gill, P. (2022). Spatial decision making of terrorist target selection: Introducing the TRACK framework. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 45(10), 862–880. https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2020.1711588] TRACK framework using UK terrorist incidents between 2015 and 2021 (n = 184). For the UK as a whole ‘EVIL DONE’ may not be the best approach to predicting and mitigating the threat. Analysis of cases from Great Britain only demonstrates greater usefulness of the framework in explaining the attractiveness of targets.