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.

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

Neutralization theory, though a popular framework for understanding deviant behavior, remains badly underdeveloped. Few attempts have been made to connect it to narrative and sociocognitive research in psychology and related fields. From this wider perspective, one reason neutralization theory has received only mixed empirical support is that it has been understood as a theory of criminal etiology. This makes little sense (how can one neutralize something before they have done it?) and makes the theory difficult to test. Neutralization should instead be seen as playing a role in persistence in or desistance from criminal behavior. The theory's central premises need to be substantially complicated. The notions that all excuses or justifications are "bad" and that reform involves "accepting complete responsibility" for one's actions are not tenable.

What Have We Learned from Five Decades of Neutralization Research

This article provides an empirical synthesis of the existing literature on the effectiveness of restorative justice practices using meta-analytic techniques. The data were aggregated from studies that compared restorative justice programs to traditional nonrestorative approaches to criminal behavior. Victim and offender satisfaction, restitution compliance, and recidivism were selected as appropriate outcomes to adequately measure effectiveness. Although restorative programs were found to be significantly more effective, these positive findings are tempered by an important self-selection bias inherent in restorative justice research. A possible method of addressing this problem, as well as directions for future research, are provided.

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The Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Practices: A Meta-Analysis:

Advocates’ claims about restorative justice contain four myths: (1) restorative justice is the opposite of retributive justice; (2) restorative justice uses indigenous justice practices and was the...

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Restorative justice The real story

What are the meanings of justice, as seen from the perspective of victims of violent crime? Are victims' visions of justice represented by the conventional legal system? Are they represented by restorative justice? The author engages these questions, drawing on in-depth interviews with 22 victims of violent crime. It is argued that survivors' views of justice do not fit well into either retributive or restorative models. This has implications for current efforts to use restorative models in cases of violence against women.

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Justice From the Victim’s Perspective

The Little Book of Restorative Justice

Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice

Critical Issues in Restorative Justice

As restorative justice programs continue to be widely adopted, the number of definitions of restorative justice has increased significantly. Oddly enough, some of the programs defined as restorative do not appear to contain some of the essential elements originally associated with restorative justice. In an effort to clarify what constitutes restorative justice, this article provides a fundamental definition of restorative justice. While the definition seeks to be as inclusive as possible, it also provides some basic principles against which programs might be measured to determine their restorative nature and potential.

Howard Zehr

Papers

The Little Book of Restorative Justice

Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice

Critical Issues in Restorative Justice

Fundamental Concepts of Restorative Justice

Crime and the Development of Modern Society: Patterns of Criminality in Nineteenth Century Germany and France