American Psychological Association
Many pundits talk about the prison population in America. Nobody can gainsay the fact that there has been an explosive increase in the number of American citizens who are imprisoned. This is generally perceived as a consequence of the fear of crime and the desire to punish the criminal and protect the law-abiding citizens. In the process the idea of rehabilitation has gotten somewhat lost. Beginning in the 60s, the hope to rehabilitate criminals was dimmed if not extinguished by a widespread assertion that nothing worked to rehabilitate criminals. Nevertheless, the U. S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the sexual predator laws on the basis of the declared intent to be for treatment and rehabilitation. However, it appears the true purpose is to incapacitate and keep them away from the rest of us. This book is a significant piece of beginning research in what works to change a criminal into a desister, one who has begun to build a different way of life. It is vitally important to see this research as an indication of what may be done to reduce reliance upon punitiveness and imprisonment as the only way a society can protect itself from the evildoer. The first point made is that the bogeyman stereotype of the criminal is neither realistic nor helpful. Criminals remain human beings, though flawed and reprehensible. The importance of allowing and encouraging criminals to develop a new understanding of themselves is stressed as the start of a pattern of desistance. Opening a route to escape from the past, the importance of work, and the concept of regeneration follow. Desistance is not a cure but an ongoing process that continues to take shape and develop in a dynamic and living manner. This report offers the first empirical set of observations of what actually works to change the life of those embedded in crime. It is significantly different than the concepts often heard in the literature on what should be done to change criminal's lives. Anyone concerned with a safer society, the growth of punitive imprisonment, and the concept of a justice system that includes some sense of therapeutic intent and hope for rehabilitation must read this book. It is a book you cannot be without. Reviewed by Ralph Underwager, Institute for Psychological Therapies.
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