Research and Evaluation on Domestic Radicalization to Violent Extremism: Research to Support Exit USA, United States, 2015-2019 (ICPSR 37684)
Version Date: Sep 25, 2025 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Matthew DeMichele, RTI International
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37684.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
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.
Citation View help for Citation
Export Citation:
Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
-
Due to mass redactions reducing the utility in secondary research, the 46 deposited interview transcripts will not be released or made available in the future.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this study 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.
Study Design View help for Study Design
The data for this study come from in-depth life history interviews with former members of domestic white supremacist organizations. Because there is no way to compile a list of former members to serve as a sampling frame, interviewees were identified by snowball sampling from multiple starts to ensure variety in the location and type of extremist groups. Initial contacts for the snowball chains were developed through the research team's extensive prior research with white supremacists, identification through public presence (e.g., media, book authors, lecture series), and referrals from study partners.
Rapport was established between the study team and vetted individuals prior to agreeing to conduct an interview. Members of the team had contact with participants via telephone and e-mail to inform the individuals about the nature and scope of the interview, verify that the person met the inclusion criteria (e.g., prior group affiliation, not an active member), and agreed to meeting logistics. Interviews were conducted using a semi-structured interview protocol in private settings such as hotel rooms and residential homes, and at times included continuing the interviews in restaurants and coffee shops. Most of the interviews were spent eliciting an in-depth life history to produce narratives that reflect the complexities and intersection of identity, ideology, and life experiences.
Sample View help for Sample
Snowball sampling with known seeds to start the snowballing.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Former members of U.S. white supremacist groups
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
The data includes variables about participants' childhood experiences of abuse, neglect, violence, and exposure to extremist movement ideas. Additionally, current experiences of substance abuse, extremist movement group affiliation, mental illness, and extremist beliefs. Demographic variables include childhood and current socioeconomic status (SES), annual income, current occupation, previous and current marital status, military service, and childhood and current religious preference.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2025-09-25
Version History View help for Version History
2025-09-25 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Created variable labels and/or value labels.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.