Purpose: The reintegration of high-profile ex-offenders-including homicide offenders, pedophiles, and terrorists-frequently receives great political and public attention. This raises several important questions: how do such offenders reintegrate into society after their release? What is the impact of their prison sentence and media attention on life domains post-release? And, given their presence in the public eye, how do current life course theories account for desistance among this special group?
Methods: Based on in-depth life course interviews with ten Dutch high-profile ex-offenders and interviews with 17 professionals involved in their reintegration, this study seeks to address a significant gap in academic literature on the role of public attention on reentry and desistance.
Results: While none of the subjects reengaged in criminal behavior, all of them significantly struggled in the domains of family relations, parenthood, intimate partner relationships, employment, and housing post-release. This poses challenges in terms of explaining their desistance through life course theory alone. They are frequently in the public eye, which-combined with strict supervision-inhibits them from rebuilding relationships that may act as informal social controls.
Conclusions: Findings emphasize the significance of the broader social context of high-profile offenders as well as factors such as time and age, for gaining an understanding of their lived experiences and desistance.
Keywords: Desistance; High-profile; Life course theory; Media; Public attention; Reentry.