© 2013 by Pearson Higher Education, IncUpper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved

Crisis InterventionWilliam Harmening

Roosevelt University

Harmening, Crisis Intervention: The Criminal Justice Response to Chaos, Mayhem, and Disaster

Chapter 11THE CULT MIND-SET AND THE DOOMSDAY CRISIS

© 2013 by Pearson Higher Education, IncUpper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved

11.1

11.2

To explain the nature and structure of a cult.

To list and describe the various cult typologies.

11.3 To summarize the profiles of the various types of cult members.

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

11.4 To describe the dangers posed by cults, and the best practices for police intervention.

To explain the nature and structure of a cult.

Learning ObjectivesAfter this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes

11.1

11.1 The Cult

The Nature and Structure of a Cult

What is a cult? A group of people who abandon their involvement in the dominant culture, and instead affiliate as a subcultural group holding a common belief system and a separatist worldview.

In most cases the cult will demonstrate a persecution mentality, and hold to the belief that secrecy and isolation are necessary in order to prevent the dominant culture from taking their children, seizing their assets, and arresting their leaders.

To list and describe the various cult typologies.

Learning ObjectivesAfter this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes

11.2

11.2 Cult Typologies

Types of Cults

Violent Apocalyptic

•Biblical•Quasi-Biblical•Secular

Characteristics of Apocalyptic Cults

•Apocalyptic beliefs•Dualism•The persecuted chosen•Imminence•Determinism•Salvation through conflict/ enemy

eradication

EX: Aum Shrinrikyo (Shoko Asahara)

11.2 Cult Typologies

Types of Cults

Passive Apocalyptic

•Biblical•Quasi-Biblical•Secular

Characteristics of Apocalyptic Cults

•Apocalyptic beliefs•Dualism•The persecuted chosen•Imminence•Determinism•Salvation through conflict/ enemy

eradication

EX: Heaven’s Gate (Marshall Applewhite)

11.2 Cult Typologies

Types of Cults

Social Isolationist

•Polygamist groups•New Age Groups•Wiccan/ Witchcraft/ Satanic groups•Groups espousing adult-child sexual

interaction•Alternative religious groups

Motivated by their desire to live an isolated existence free of outside influence. They avoid contact with mainstream society to protect their lifestyle and beliefs.

EX: The People’s Temple (Jim Jones)

11.2 Cult Typologies

Types of Cults

New World Order Cults

•Cultural•Environmental•Geopolitical•Fantasy

These groups wish to re-order society in a particular way that is more consistent with their beliefs. They may engage in violence to bring about their desired change.

EX: The Manson Family (Charles Manson)

11.2 Cult Typologies

Types of Cults

Cult Typologies

Violent Apocalyptic

Passive Apocalyptic

New World Order

Social-Isolationist

Biblical Quasi-BiblicalSecular

CulturalEnvironmentalGeopoliticalFantasy

PolygamistNew Age

Wiccan/ Witchcraft/ SatanicAdult-child sexual interactions

Alternative religious

To summarize the profiles of the various types of cult members

Learning ObjectivesAfter this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes

11.3

11.3 Cult Personalities

Structure of Cult Membership

Cult Leader

Ideologue Follower

Pragmatist Follower

Disordered Follower

ENFO

RCER

ENFO

RCER

ENFORCER

11.3 Cult Personalities

Structure of Cult Membership

Cult Leader

Ideologue Follower

Pragmatist Follower

Disordered Follower

ENFO

RCER

ENFO

RCER

ENFORCER

Cult Leader

Typically the person who establishes the group, recruits initial members, and develops the cult’s ideology.

• Charming• Manipulative• Most have juvenile record• Sexually promiscuous• Antisocial/ lack of empathy• Pathological liars

11.3 Cult Personalities

Structure of Cult Membership

Cult Leader

Ideologue Follower

Pragmatist Follower

Disordered Follower

EN

FO

RCER

EN

FO

RCER

ENFORCER

The Enforcer

Trusted by the leader to carry out their orders and provide protection. Loyal to the leader, but may not always believe their ideology.

Enforcers increase the power of the Leader. They instill paranoia and an uneasy obedience within the group.

• Antisocial personality• usually a history of violence• History of risk-taking behaviors• Lack of education• History of employment

11.3 Cult Personalities

Structure of Cult Membership

Cult Leader

Ideologue Follower

Pragmatist Follower

Disordered Follower

ENFO

RCER

ENFO

RCER

ENFORCER

The Ideologue Follower

Joins the cult because they truly believe in the message being proffered by the group’s leader. May be the first to leave when the leader begins to deviate from the original message.

11.3 Cult Personalities

Structure of Cult Membership

Cult Leader

Ideologue Follower

Pragmatist Follower

Disordered Follower

ENFO

RCER

ENFO

RCER

ENFORCER

The Pragmatist Follower

These members are attracted to the group less by the message and more by the lifestyle. Typically people who have been disenfranchised by the dominant society or have experienced some major problem that left them unable to live on their own and provide for their own sustenance.

11.3 Cult Personalities

Structure of Cult Membership

Cult Leader

Ideologue Follower

Pragmatist Follower

Disordered Follower

ENFO

RCER

ENFO

RCER

ENFORCER

The Disordered Follower

These members tend to be emotionally unstable, and may even suffer from any number of psychological disorders. They may have little interest in the group’s ideology, or it may reinforce and strengthen their own delusional thought processes.

To describe the dangers posed by cults, and the best practices for police intervention.

Learning ObjectivesAfter this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes

11.4

19

11.4 The Cult Threat

Warning Signs

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service Report (1999) lists the following warning signs that a cult may be preparing for violence against its own members or others.

• Intensification of illegal activities• Humiliating circumstances• Relocation to a rural area• Increasingly violent rhetoric• Struggle for leadership

20

11.4 The Cult Threat

Warning Signs

When a cult leader’s prophecy fails, there is a disconfirmed expectancy in the minds of the cult’s members (Festinger, 1956). This leads to cognitive dissonance. On one hand they believe in their leader, but on the other they see that the prophecy failed.

The danger lies in the leader’s efforts to eliminate the dissonance by blaming the failure on an outside source, such as the police, or even certain of their own members.

This tends to actually strengthen the members’ loyalty to the leader, and may compel them to engage in violent actions.

21

11.4 The Cult Threat

The Police Response

The police must recognize the Constitutional rights of cult members to assemble and exercise free speech. Their duty is to protect people from harm, including the cult members themselves.

In gathering intelligence on a cult, the police should attempt to ascertain the following:

• Type of cult• Guiding doctrines• Trigger event (a major event anticipated by the cult that may trigger violence)

• Identity of group’s leadership• Source of group’s funding• The group’s membership• Weapons acquisition• Immediate concerns (allegations of child abuse or neglect, forced detention)

22

11.4 The Cult Threat

The Police Response

The police must avoid any action that could unleash a spiral of amplification, or a confirmation of the group’s apocalyptic beliefs that could potentially lead to unnecessary violence on the part of the cult members.

We witnessed this at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX in 1993, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms executed what was arguably an unnecessary raid that resulted in the deaths of 4 law enforcement officers and nearly 80 members of the group, including children.

23

11.4 The Cult Threat

The Police Response

Following the disaster at Waco, federal guidelines were established by the USDOJ requiring that the following elements be present in any federal law enforcement response to a cult suspected of illegal activity:

• A well-equipped and highly skilled tactical team

• Trained and experienced negotiators

• Behavioral science experts

• A command structure

© 2013 by Pearson Higher Education, IncUpper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved

A cult is a group of people who abandon their involvement in the dominant culture, and instead affiliate as a subcultural group holding a common

belief system and a separatist worldview. They typically live communally.

Cults come in many forms, but can be classified generally as violent apocalyptic, passive apocalyptic,

new world order, or social-isolationist. The type of cult it is provides an idea of its potential for violence.

Most cults are led by a charismatic leader who surrounds himself with enforcers. The cult members

have different motivations for joining the group. They can be classified as ideologue, pragmatist, and

disordered followers.

The police are constrained in their response to cults by the U.S. Constitution. Their primary mission is to

protect people, including the cult members, from harm.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

11.1

11.2

11.3

11.4

© 2013 by Pearson Higher Education, IncUpper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Reflect on someone you know who you think might be attracted to affiliate with a cult under the right circumstances. What are the characteristics of that person’s personality that led you to believe this?

2. Do some basic internet research on the siege at Waco, Texas, of the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. Discuss the initial police response, and whether you feel it was appropriate given the information and intelligence that was available to them at the time.

3. Discuss the “spiral of amplification,” and some ways in which the police response could potentially trigger and intensify this dangerous circumstance.