Danish Cops and a Different Approach to Youth Radicalization

I got behind on my podcast listening and managed not to listen to this month-old episode of Invisibilia until this morning. It's worth Lawfare reader attention—or, at least, the first half of it is. (The second half deals with online dating.)

In it, Hanna Rosin looks at the approach to youth radicalization that a pair of Danish police officers in the city of Aarhus took after dozens of kids started disappearing in 2012 to go joint the fight in Syria. The story, which is richly reported, is interesting and may have lessons for the way U.S. law enforcement handles both people at risk of joining of the enemy abroad and those returning from Syria and Iraq. The basic approach is not to try to prosecute but to bombard those at risk of radicalization with social services, mentorship, and engagement with society and opportunity. Very worth listening to.