Practices and Needs in Reintegration Programs for Violent Extremist Offenders in the United States: The Probation Officer Perspective

In 2018, it was reported that 108 federal inmates with a history of violent extremism were scheduled to be released over the next five years; and in 2021, it was reported that the number of domestic terrorism investigations being pursued by the FBI had more than doubled over the prior two years. While these numbers alone are cause for concern, they do not include those who are being investigated, charged, and convicted in state courts, meaning that the true number of extremists in prison and on probation in the U.S. is currently unknown. What is clear, though, is that the number is likely to increase, making it especially concerning that there is little guidance or knowledge on how best to reintegrate this population. Our project used a mixed-methods approach (combining qualitative data derived from interviews with quantitative data derived from a survey) to address this issue via two pathways. First, we aimed to understand the full set of resources available to federal probation officers tasked with supervising extremist offenders. Second, we aimed to identify which current practices for managing extremist offenders released from U.S. prisons would benefit from an evaluation. Our results include: a detailed analysis of the data collected from federal probation officers over the course of this project, an identification of four key issues around which officer sentiment coalesced (mental health assistance, risk evaluation tools, recidivism rates, and rapport), and an evaluability assessment (forthcoming) of program components.