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

Maruna, Shadd

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1557987319 ISBN 13: 9781557987310

Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn, 2001

Synopsis

Can hardened criminals really reform? Making Good provides resounding proof that the answer is yes. This book provides a fascinating narrative analysis of the lives of repeat offenders who, by all statistical measures, should have continued on the criminal path but instead have created lives of productivity and purpose. This examination of the phenomenology of "making good" includes an encyclopedic review of the literature on personal reform as well as a practical guide to the use of narratives in offender counseling and rehabilitation. The author's research shows that criminals who desist from crime have constructed powerful narratives that aided them in making sense of their pasts, finding fulfillment in productive behaviors, and feeling in control of their future. Borrowing from the field of narrative psychology, Maruna argues that to truly understand offenders, we must understand the stories that they tell -- and that in turn this story-making process has the capacity to transform lives. Making Good challenges some of the cherished assumptions of various therapy models for offenders and supports new paradigms for offender rehabilitation. This groundbreaking book is a must read for criminologists, forensic psychologists, lawyers, rehabilitation counselors, or anyone interested in the generative process of change. You may also be interested in: Treating Adult and Juvenile Offenders With Special Needs Violent Offenders: Appraising and Managing Risk

About this title

About the Author

Hans Toch is professor of psychology in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Albany. He is an elected fellow of the American Psychological Association as well as the American Society of Criminology. He has been president of the American Association of Forensic Psychology. He was also the Project Co-Director of the Institute for the Study of Crime and Delinquency at Sacramento, California.

Edition details

• Publisher: Amer Psychological Assn
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1557987319
• ISBN 13: 9781557987310
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 211