Disengagement and Desistance: A Systematic Review

This project will assess if research published since 2017 supports or contradicts current assumptions behind existing disengagement and desistence intervention programmes.

The research team are carrying out a systematic review to evaluate the disengagement and desistance literature from January 1 2017 to February 1 2020.

The systematic review will be completed by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement (Moher et al., 2009). The application of a systemic review, rather than a traditional literature review, will enhance the objectivity of the resultant analysis, conclusions and recommendations. Studies will be eligible for inclusion if they had some direct bearing upon the process of disengagement, desistence or de-radicalisation in the context of violent extremism. This review will focus on all forms of terrorism and violent extremism.

To optimise the systematic literature search, a cross-disciplinary selection of databases will be used. In addition, due to their particular relevance to the subject, a selection of terrorism studies journals will be hand-searched by the research team to identify research of relevance.

One of the objectives of the study is to assess if research published since 2017 supports or contradicts current assumptions behind existing disengagement and desistence intervention programmes. In order to do this, this study will identify and assess the pre-2017 research which has had the most influence and impact with regard to disengagement and desistence interventions.

The deliverables from the project will include the following: a full systematic review report, infographics, short-form briefing documents, a literature database, and a five-episode podcast series on key findings from the research.

The core research team includes Prof Andrew Silke (Cranfield University) and Dr John Morrison (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Ms Heidi Maiberg, a PhD candidate with a research focus on disengagement and desistance.

Project resources

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