The target persona and victim;s identity

Perception of conflict

The connection between past criminal behaviour and terrorist attacks

Order through chaos

gradual exposition to ideology and mindset inside the group

Perceptual structure

Axiological structure

Hierarchial structure

Questions

Criminal legitimacy is based on the concept of self justification. Self justification is the process through which in an individual motivates and justifies his behavior in order to avoid a cgnitive and moral dissonance. Criminal legitimacy is the process through which a criminal motivates and justifies his beahvior and his acts. Both self justification and criminal legitimacy are influenced by the individual's perception of the world.

Criminal legitimacy is suported by three cognitive structures:

The perceptual structure-the way the criminal views the society, culture, religions, norms and valuses

The axiological structure- the criminal identifies and internalizes some norms and values and rejects others

The hierarchical structure- the role that the criminal has as an individual, the role that he should have and the roles he rejects.

By internalizing norms that are opposed to main societal norms. It is important to take into consideration Fike and Tage's theory, that states that the criminal commits the crime beacuse he thinks "it is the right thing to do", the "right" think in his perception. When these norm and values are adopted, accepted and internalized, they manage to bypass the lwas and rules that the individual learned during primary and secondary socialization.