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D. Richard Laws and Tony Ward, Desistance from Sex Offending: Alternatives to Throwing Away the Keys

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 January 2012
DOI10.1177/1462474511406642c
AuthorAmanda M. Young-Hauser
Date01 January 2012
Subject MatterBook Reviews
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Punishment & Society 14(1)
studies is that victim policies across the world bear the mark of ad hoc activism and
political expediency. Victim policies lack a clear scientif‌ic foundation similar to
those of health policies. Victims are still at the mercy of enlightened ‘inner circles’.
This seems to me a conclusion of great political importance and a clarion call for
international legal reform. Whether Paul has wanted this or not, in the f‌inal anal-
ysis, his work is of much more than purely academic interest.
Reference
Rock P (1979) Public Opinion and Criminal legislation, in European Committee on
Crime Problems, Collected Studies in Criminological Research. Volume 17: Public
Opinion on Crime and Criminal Justice, Strasbourg.
Jan Van Dijk
International Victimology Institute of the University of Tilburg, The Netherlands
D. Richard Laws and Tony Ward, Desistance from Sex Offending: Alternatives to Throwing Away the
Keys, The Guildford Press: New York & London, 2011; 306 pp.: 9781606239353
Child sex of‌fences always dominate the media as abhorrent crimes, done by repul-
sive people who are not at all like ‘us’. In their interdisciplinary book, Laws and
Ward present a reintegration model for sex of‌fenders that builds on the similarities
between all people – the need to be well and the need to be loved. Laws and Ward,
drawing on criminology and forensic psychology, propose a theoretically informed
programme designed to enhance a smooth transition from prison to community.
The programme aim is to encourage of‌fenders to live a ‘good life’ and not reof‌fend.
The approach is summarized in the Good Lives Model (GLM), a strength-based
model for of‌fender reintegration. The GLM assumes that of‌fenders, including sex
of‌fenders, do not dif‌fer signif‌icantly from the general population. This is based on
the assumption that all humans share the same basic needs and naturally seek
primary goods (knowledge, excellence in play and work, autonomy, community
and relatedness, for example) that...

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