1. © 2013 by Pearson Higher Education, Inc
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved
Crisis Intervention
William Harmening
Roosevelt University
Harmening, Crisis Intervention: The Criminal Justice Response to Chaos, Mayhem, and
Disaster
Chapter 11
THE CULT MIND-SET AND THE DOOMSDAY CRISIS

2. © 2013 by Pearson Higher Education, Inc
Upper 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.

3. To explain the nature and structure of
a cult.
Learning Objectives
After this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes
11.1

4. 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.

5. To list and describe the various cult
typologies.
Learning Objectives
After this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes
11.2

6. 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)

7. 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)

8. 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)

9. 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)

10. 11.2 Cult Typologies
Types of Cults
Cult
Typologies
Violent
Apocalyptic
Passive
Apocalyptic
New World
Order
Social-
Isolationist
Biblical
Quasi-Biblical
Secular
Cultural
Environmental
Geopolitical
Fantasy
Polygamist
New Age
Wiccan/ Witchcraft/ Satanic
Adult-child sexual interactions
Alternative religious

11. To summarize the profiles of the
various types of cult members
Learning Objectives
After this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes
11.3

12. 11.3 Cult Personalities
Structure of Cult Membership
Cult
Leader
Ideologue
Follower
Pragmatist
Follower
Disordered
Follower
ENFORCER

13. 11.3 Cult Personalities
Structure of Cult Membership
Cult
Leader
Ideologue
Follower
Pragmatist
Follower
Disordered
Follower
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

14. 11.3 Cult Personalities
Structure of Cult Membership
Cult
Leader
Ideologue
Follower
Pragmatist
Follower
Disordered
Follower
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

15. 11.3 Cult Personalities
Structure of Cult Membership
Cult
Leader
Ideologue
Follower
Pragmatist
Follower
Disordered
Follower
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.

16. 11.3 Cult Personalities
Structure of Cult Membership
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.

17. 11.3 Cult Personalities
Structure of Cult Membership
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.

18. To describe the dangers posed by
cults, and the best practices for
police intervention.
Learning Objectives
After this lecture, you should be able to complete the following Learning Outcomes
11.4

19. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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

24. © 2013 by Pearson Higher Education, Inc
Upper 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

25. © 2013 by Pearson Higher Education, Inc
Upper 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.