Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives

by Shadd Maruna, Hans Toch (Foreword)

State Univ. of New York, Albany. Text, based on the Liverpool Desistance Study, compares and contrasts the stories of ex-convicts who are actively involved in criminal behavior with those who are desisting from crime and drug use. Suggests that success in reform depends on providing rehabilitative opportunities that encourage rehabilitation.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, Social Science

211 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[CTEP]

I did not realize that Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives by Shadd Maruna would be such an objective and scholarly examination of ex-offenders and their lives after incarceration. The book was recommended to me by a coworker at Emerge and it really opened my eyes to fight the cynicism that many professionals develop when working with individuals living with employment barriers, especially a criminal background. Unfortunately, many of my coworkers including social workers, case managers, and instructors, despite their passion to help our clients, develop a thick and realistic skin towards professional opportunities. We recognize the barriers and encourage individuals to make positive changes in their lives. However, we learn to accept disappointments that come along.

The author, Shadd Maruna, forms the book around real life stories of men and women with criminal histories, mainly with drug offenses. In the section I took most interest, he identifies two groups: persisters and desisters. Persisters are active ex-convicts who continue to lead a negative lifestyle involved in crime. Desisters are ex-convicts that are NOT criminally active. Although both groups faced life barriers that led to their criminal history, Maruna identified a difference in subjective thinking or ‘sense making’ process. Persisters felt they had no choice but to continue their criminal behavior because of the barriers they faced when they were released. Maruna called this excuse-making or hopelessness a ‘condemnation script’ that made sense of their lives and removed them from guilt. On the other had, desisters construct a ‘redemption script’ that transformed patterns of bad behavior into a life of positive, social contribution. They developed moral character through reflection and an optimistic outlook. They felt empowered to believe in themselves and make amends. I am very lucky to work mostly with desisters because they took the initiative to make positive change in their lives by coming in to Emerge.

Maruna’s writing was very technical and a little thick for me to get through. I do not have a sociology or criminology educational background so I did have to look up the meaning of a ton of the vocabulary. Over all, I would recommend this book to other members working with ex-offenders, especially felons that have been incarcerated for long periods of time and are recently re-entering society. It was really encouraging for me to read more about success stories and positive trends in the field!

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to find a more complete and well conducted quantitative approach to understanding agency in desistance. Maruna, highlights the power of narrative and personal voice when it comes to criminological theory. The nuanced captured in this book goes a long way to discredit hard-line, punitively inspired approaches to criminal justice and shows promising and radical growth in criminology since Martinsons 1979 Nothing Works conclusion.

[Kony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice ray of hope, and a refreshing close-up of individuals, amidst a literature rife with pessimism and abstractions.

Maruna finds that, surprisingly, the key to quitting a life of crime is a measure of denial. Among ex-offenders who grow weary of criminal activity, those who end up rebuilding their lives aren't those who have the starkest or clearest view of reality. Instead, the ones who succeed are those who muster a positive self-image and a slightly inflated self-confidence. That is: they rewrite their histories in ways that excuse bad behavior (externalizing blame for past events), and they re-script their futures in ways that require discipline and initiative (internalizing responsibility for future progress).

Maruna frames his findings with key concepts from social psychology, sociology, and criminology. He sprinkles interview excerpts generously throughout his analysis, and he ties up each section with reflections about what needs to change in The System and in society.

Overall: readable, informative, and encouraging.

[First read/reviewed in December 2011.]

[Thanyanuch Tantikul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-researched work in desistance studies. The findings shine the ray of hope against 'the myth of the bogeymen' or belief in criminal essentialism. Offenders can and do change, and the essential tool of desisting from crimes might be in the narratives, the 'replacement discourse' or the 'redemption script'. The author argues that desisters can pull themselves together by rewriting their lives, reinterpreting their past and taking control of their present and future. By contrast, active repeat offenders fall victim to 'condemnation script' and fatalism attitudes that they are doomed to deviance. By gaining more understanding about the power of the stories, criminal justice and corrections institutions can modify the 'rehabilitative' approaches and be more hopeful in achieving more reintegration success.

[Holli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the report of Shadd Maruna’s study of desisting criminals in Liverpool, England. He traveled there and interviewed hundreds of criminals both those who actively participate in criminal activity and those who have desisted and asked them why they are doing what they do. Amazing accounts and evidence. People desist for a variety of reasons, but all want reintegrative action upon returning to society – feelings of acceptance and being told, “they are doing good”. Many use generational reasons (wanting to give something back to the next generation) for desisting.