Introduction

Research that looks at the experience of victims of terrorism is underdeveloped, fragmented and often isolated from broader studies of the phenomenon of political violence. In the criminological and victimological disciplines, but more so in the sub-field of Terrorism Studies, victim-focused study is sparse. In the academic literature, the topic is often seen as peripheral to the study of the individuals who carry out the violence. Predominantly, victims are portrayed as the unfortunate subjects of random attacks, effectively representatives of a broader category of individuals for whom the violent communiqué is intended (Schmid, 2012).