Structural coercion and radicalisation: How US legal systems fail to address child trafficking in extremist networks
Original framing: “US teen whose father arranged her marriage to Islamic State fighter convicted for weapons training” — The Guardian - World
The voices of other young women trafficked by extremist groups—such as those from the UK’s
Halima Salman’s case is not an isolated tragedy but a symptom of a fractured system where state violence, economic despair, and patriarchal control converge to exploit vulnerable youth.
The legal focus on her culpability obscures the role of US geopolitical interventions in destabilising regions that become breeding grounds for extremism, while ignoring the historical patterns of child trafficking in conflict zones. Indigenous and cross-cultural frameworks reveal how restorative justice—rooted in communal accountability and trauma healing—could address the root causes of radicalisation, yet these are sidelined in favour of punitive narratives that serve the 'war on terror' agenda. The trickster’s lens exposes the absurdity of a system that punishes victims while shielding the structural forces that created their vulnerability, demanding a radical reimagining of justice that centres rehabilitation over retribution.