<p>Crime is a major societal problem that impacts countries worldwide, undermining the safety and well-being of individual citizens while imposing substantial economic and social costs on communities and governments. To address this issue, societies respond by imposing sanctions, primarily within the criminal justice setting. Although numerous studies have examined the impact of sanctions on reintegration, most focus narrowly on recidivism and are predominantly based on US data. This special issue brings together innovative quantitative and qualitative research using data across Europe and the United States, to explore reintegration in a broader context. The articles in this special issue address critical gaps in the existing literature by exploring understudied dimensions of reintegration and their interconnections, as well as by examining temporal changes in reintegration rather than relying on static conceptualizations. In doing so, they adopt the holistic and dynamic perspective essential for advancing life-course research on reintegration. The introduction to this special issue begins with a synthesis of the existing literature and then proceeds to outline the principal contributions and key findings of the articles presented in this collection. The introduction further offers considerations for future research directions.</p>