Empirical Assessment of Domestic Disengagement and Deradicalization (EAD3)

• In Event: What Works: Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in U.S. Communities

Abstract

The Empirical Assessment of Domestic Disengagement and Deradicalization (EAD3) project examines the processes of individual exit from extremism and the effects of interventions by the criminal justice system, non-governmental organizations and less formal community groups on these processes. The project utilizes a multi-method and multi-disciplinary approach to understand the ways in which extremists exit violent organizations across the far right, far left and Islamist ideological milieus. This presentation will discuss preliminary findings from the initial phase of the project which involved more than 20 interviews with former extremists and the construction of a large-N database that captures a wide range of cognitive, social, behavioral, and legal factors that contribute to desistance, disengagement and de-radicalization.

Author

• Michael Jensen, University of Maryland