Reviews: Rehabilitation
| DOI | 10.1177/02645505070540030905 |
| Author | Len Cheston |
| Date | 01 September 2007 |
| Published date | 01 September 2007 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
called for in the review, the demand for a distinct, holistic, woman-centred
approach, were features of how the Griffins Society worked with female offenders.
This book is informative, enjoyable and inspiring and will appeal to anyone inter-
ested in work with female offenders.
Madeline Petrillo
Probation Officer, Surrey
Rehabilitation
Tony Ward and Shadd Maruna
Routledge, 2007; pp 216, £15.99, pbk
ISBN 0–415–38643–8
The book sets out to explore the limits of the risk, needs,
responsivity (RNR) approach as a theory of offender reha-
bilitation. The authors propose that the Good Life Model
(GLM) offers a more comprehensive theoretical framework
for practice. The authors are Tony Ward from the Victoria
University of Wellington, New Zealand, who has written
extensively on the GLM, and Shadd Maruna from Queens University Belfast, whose
book Making Good ((2000) has a ‘cult’ following amongst some practitioners.
The opening chapter entitled ‘How Rehabilitation Became a Dirty Word’ is one
of the most readable and challenging chapters on the rise of the What Works
movement. They suggest that the ‘nothing works’ ideology is gathering for another
attack and suggest a shift to a ‘What Helps’ framework based on a desistance-
based model.
The next chapter looks at current rehabilitation theory, followed by two chapters
exploring the RNR model. They set out the model and highlight the areas they
think need to be improved upon. For example, they argue it is weak on motivating
offenders. In another section they argue that RNR focuses on harm reduction not
what is important to offenders in reducing re-offending. They highlight that work
on a narrative life story does not fit with the RNR model.
They then explore the GLM model. They report that it has been tested upon sex
and violent offenders. They suggest the model has a focus on personal goals using
positive psychology. One summary of the model is ‘assisting individuals to achieve
goods via non-offending methods may function to eliminate or reduce the need
for offending’ (p. 108). Finally they reiterate a theme repeated throughout the book,
that the GLM adds to existing knowledge and should be seem as complementary
to the RNR model. This is a welcome line of exploration.
The book appears to be targeted at an academic audience but there is a great
deal of information and debate that is of interest to a practitioner readership. The
authors attempt to explain some complex concepts in plainer language, notwith-
standing the few paragraphs of detailed statistical debate.
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Reviews
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