State terrorism is terrorism carried out by a government against its own citizens or against the citizens of another state, distinct from state sponsored terrorism, in which a state instead funds or supports a non-state group that carries out the violence. Governments accused of state terrorism often defend the conduct as necessary to combat internal dissent, suppress an insurgency, or protect national security, framing it as counterterrorism or counterinsurgency, while critics describe the same actions as severe violations of human rights and international law. Scholars dispute the term's exact scope: some argue terrorism is by definition carried out only by non-state actors, while others hold that state directed violence intended to terrorize a civilian population should be classified as terrorism as well. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Elements of OffenseTerrorism conducted by a state against its own citizens or another state's citizens 1 Notable ExamplePolice state measures of the Soviet Union beginning in the 1930s and of Germany's Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s 1 Jurisdiction VariationInternational law: the chairman of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee said the twelve previous international conventions on terrorism never referred to state terrorism, which was not an international legal concept 1 Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. State terrorism (Wikipedia)
Definition
State terrorism is terrorism conducted by a state against its own citizens or another state's citizens.
History
Later examples of state terrorism include the police state measures employed by the Soviet Union beginning in the 1930s, and by Germany's Nazi regime in the 1930s and 1940s.
Criticism of the concept
The chairman of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee has said the twelve previous international conventions on terrorism had never referred to state terrorism, which was not an international legal concept
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