NCJ Number
88999
Date Published
1983
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This assessment of the terrorist negotiating drama emphasizes that the hostage must attempt to cooperate with captors and suggests ways that business executives should behave in short-term and long-term captivity in order to survive.
Abstract
Because terrorists believe that business organizations can pay ransom with minimal inconvenience and justify their demands on ideological grounds, kidnapping of corporate executives is likely to continue. A hostage should remain calm, cooperative, and avoid competitive behavior, especially in a barricade-siege situation. The police play a pivotal role in negotiations, building a climate similar to the collective bargaining mode in which mixed tactics of coercion are successful. Meanwhile, the executive hostage can attempt to change the mind set of the terrorist through subtle, measured cooperative respnses with the goal of neutralizing political antipathy and winning the terrorists over. The police response to the Hanafi seizure of hostages at the B'nai B'rith headquarters in Washington, D.C. is a classic example of mixed motive bargaining where a flexible response produced satisfactory facesaving results. When a national government must be included in bargaining because of terrorists' demands, danger to the hostages increases. Executives should be aware of the transference effect and use it to their advantage. While captivity is a dehumanizing ordeal for executives, their chances of survival are good. Captives should do meditative exercises, can agree on broad issues such as poverty is wrong and jobs are needed, and express appreciation for small courtesies. Sir Geoffrey Jackson's conduct when captured by the Tupamaros in 1971 is a model of effective adaptive behavior. Corporations should provide training for executives which simulates the disquieting conditions of a siege or captivity. The article includes 26 references.