Research and Evaluation on Domestic Radicalization to Violent Extremism: Research to Support Exit USA, United States, 2015-2019

The spread of and involvement in domestic extremist organizations are some of the most pressing issues facing the criminal justice field. There is little research studying the trajectories of former members of extremist organizations. This project begins to address the gaps in knowledge about radicalization and exit by gathering firsthand accounts from former members of white supremacist organizations in the U.S.
The goal of this project was to understand the pathways to disengagement and deradicalization among former white supremacists to provide justice and community organizations with useful information to support prevention and intervention strategies. There is a dearth of systematic information about the motivations, trajectories, and barriers involved with the disengagement and deradicalization process. This project was designed to provide a necessary and foundational assessment of the processes involved with becoming a former extremist. This project charted the social and psychological processes involved in exiting domestic extremist organizations by analyzing the detailed life history accounts of 47 former domestic extremists.