Antworten der Gesetzgeber auf den 11. September – eine Analyse internationaler Entwicklungen

Abstract

Anti-terrorism legislation drafted and enacted after 9/11 certainly carries clear signs of coordination and convergence, as promoted by precisely formulated demands voiced by the UN, the security council, and other international and supranational bodies. Moreover, anti-terrorism legislation after 9/11 implements a program that was developed in the course of the 1980s and 1990s in the context of controlling transnational organized crime, money laundering, and illegal immigration. Anti-terrorism legislation is of a cross-sectional nature as it encompasses changes not only in criminal law but also telecommunication law, immigration law, police law, etc. In criminal law we find new statutes that penalize support of terrorist organizations and financing terrorism, in procedural law police powers have been widened while telecommunication providers are required to keep data for long periods. Cooperation between police and intelligence agencies has been made easier, and the emergence of task force approaches combining police, intelligence agencies, customs, immigration authorities, etc. also points to a convergence of prevention and repression. Broadly speaking, anti-terrorism legislation demonstrates the transformation of the formerly privileged status of politically and ideologically motivated violence into behavior deemed to be particularly dangerous and therefore eligible for increased penalties and harsher responses. Such a transformation can be also understood as the emergence of criminal law aimed at „enemies,” as opposed to the version that addresses citizens and treasures civil liberties.