Argumentative Essay On Domestic Terrorism

Recent discoveries show, “Of 134 jihadist-inspired terrorists who have carried out or plotted attacks here since 9/11, 96 were U.S. citizens” (Jenkins). In the United States there has been a serious rise in domestic terrorism, however the government refuses to acknowledge it. Instead their focus has been abroad, rightly so in some cases, while more domestic attacks make headline news. The change in visa laws does nothing, because since 9/11 86% of the terror attacks have been plotted or carried out by American citizens. Therefore, the United States needs to step up its efforts to combat domestic terrorism because the jail time is too short for current terrorists, there are no true task forces for current attacks, and there has been an increase of these groups and attacks.

The United States needs to step up its efforts to

For instance, it was shown in numerous examples of federal cases that the United States treated domestic terrorist differently than Islamic-related terrorists. The Reuters, a newspaper, found “100 federal cases found that domestic terrorism suspects collectively have faced less severe charges than those accused of acting on behalf of Islamic State” (Harte, et al). In the United States terrorists that attack for an Islamic State face charges more harsh than domestic terrorists who commit similar if not the same crimes. Thus, showing that the United States does not see the threat of domestic terrorists, to the point where the United States does not charge them with the crimes the terrorists deserve. Furthermore, the prison sentence for the Islamic-State related crimes differ incredibly to the prison sentence for domestic extremists. The Reuters also discovered that, “Eight Islamic State-related defendants have been sentenced so far, to prison terms that range from three to 20 years, the Reuters review found. Over the same period, 18 domestic extremists have been sentenced