Rehabilitation

by Tony Ward, Shadd Maruna

Over the last two decades, empirical evidence has increasingly supported the view that it is possible to reduce re-offending rates by rehabilitating offenders rather than simply punishing them. In fact, the pendulum’s swing back from a pure punishment model to a rehabilitation model is arguably one of the most significant events in modern correctional policy. This comprehensive review argues that rehabilitation should focus both on promoting human goods (i.e. providing the offender with the essential ingredients for a 'good' life), as well as reducing/avoiding risk. Offering a succinct summary and critique of the scientific approach to offender rehabilitation, this intriguing volume for students of criminology, sociology and clinical psychology gives a comprehensive evaluation of both the Risk-Need Model and the Good Lives Model. Rehabilitation is a value-laden process involving a delicate balance of the needs and desires of clinicians, clients, the State and the public. Written by two international leading academics in rehabilitation research, this book argues that intervention with offenders is not simply a matter of implementing the best therapeutic technology and leaving political and social debate to politicians and policy makers.

220 pages, Paperback

First published June 25, 2006

Reviews

[Kony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reasonably readable case for treating offenders as complex human beings, and for understanding "rehabilitation" as the task of helping people build good lives -- as opposed to trying to shame and control them for the worst things they've done.

That is, rehabilitation is about building on people's strengths and prosocial desires. It doesn't work if we focus solely on commanding people to avoid their weaknesses and suppress their problematic impulses. (Seems commonsensical, right? If only the people running our prison system thought so.)

Despite criminological jargon scattered throughout, the central themes (offenders are people too! etc.) come through clearly enough. It's helpful if you want a breakdown of what's wrong with older "risk-management" approaches to rehabilitation, and what's good about this emerging "positive psychology"-based approach.