This book demonstrates that alternative approaches to criminal rehabilitation succeed in developing pro-social attitudes and in improving mental, physical and spiritual health for youth and adults in prison and community settings. The use of mindfulness is highlighted as a foundational tool of self-reflexivity, creative expression and therapy.

Drawing on original research on community-based alternatives to offender rehabilitation, this book provides an up-to-date depiction of the challenges faced by front-line workers at the interface between criminal justice and welfare systems striving to address needs and provide multifaceted solutions. Using an innovative theoretical approach predicated on activity theory (AT) to dissect the problem, the book makes the case for co-created rehabilitation strategies that address the needs of offenders – which can only be achieved with the involvement of health and social welfare services as a means to provide a holistic support to individuals – and regard for the dilemmas front-line professionals face to deploy such strategies – which means shifting the top-down paradigm of policy implementation for co-created solutions. The book explores how AT can be used to help design commensurate interventions that give voice to all the interested actors involved in the rehabilitation process and provide readers with tools that help translate theory into practice. This book is essential reading for students, researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders focusing on co-created, bottom-up alternatives to imprisonment that benefit both offenders, community and the state.

On any given day in America, more than 1.5 million people are locked up in state prisons and local jails, at costs that approach $20,000 per inmate each year. Crime and incarceration generate heated, but often contradictory, political debate; voters consider prisons the only real sanction for crime, but adamantly resist new taxes to pay for them. Sensible Justice explores creative solutions some states and cities nationwide have devised to tackle the prison problem.

Drawing upon original qualitative research with prisoners in three democratic therapeutic communities (TCs), this book provides a unique sociological portrayal and new criminological understanding of the TC's rehabilitative regime and culture.

Offender rehabilitation theory and practice have traditionally focused on curing "offenders" of their deviant tendencies by changing their habits, opportunities, personality and outlook on life. Consequently, a number of interventions have been developed within the criminal justice system that are said to be involved in helping offenders. Success is measured by recidivism rates. To this end, rehabilitation has become an important aim of sentencing, whether it be in the form of incarceration, community or monetary penalties. Recently, the foundations of rehabilitation theory and practice have been shaken. Rehabilitation is now seen by many as a threat to offenders' rights and humanitarian principles. Some have even argued that rehabilitation practices are harmful to offenders' chances of correction. Alongside these concerns, the entire paradigm on which our modern criminal justice systems are based has also been questioned. Alternative visions of justice have been moved out of the shadows in the hope that more effective processes are developed for safer and more just societies. One of these visions is encapsulated in restorative justice, which is based on the foundation of promoting human goods in the pursuit of restoration of harm and the correction of deviant behaviour. Restorative justice practices, such as mediation, circles and conferencing bring to the fore states of affairs, activities and experiences that are strongly associated with well-being and higher level of personal satisfaction and social functioning. They aim to create empathy and remorse, and through constructive and honest dialogue create a sense of responsibility in the "offender" and a feeling of empowerment and justice in the "victim". Within this framework, the labels of "victim" and "offender" collapse. A new approach to crime reduction and offender rehabilitation is thus needed. This ground-breaking, edited volume aims to respond to this call by bringing together inter-disciplinary thinking from criminology, affect-script psychology, sociology, political sciences and human rights, psychology and positive psychology, design and arts and social work. The inter-disciplinary dialogue that this book promotes aims to advance the restorative justice field, its tools, practices and evaluation techniques by bringing rehabilitation theory into the restorative justice debate, and vice versa.

′Robinson and Crow have achieved the seemingly impossible: a book about rehabilitation that transcends the "medical model", that is original and contemporary yet grounded in a sophisticated history, and most of all that is fun to read. It will become a new classic text in a field that has been crying out for one′ - Professor Shadd Maruna, Queen′s University, Belfast ′In an age where there is much public and political confusion about many criminal justice matters, this book brings considerable clarity to the idea of rehabilitation, its theoretical and historical roots, and contemporary practical application. This is an accessible, lively, and critical account of a concept which is central to the shape of the criminal justice system in pursuance of something that will "work" to reduce reoffending. "Rehabilitation" seems to go in and out of fashion depending on the politics of the day, but the careful and thorough examination of the different contexts in which it operates and competing perspectives on its potential offered here highlights its enduring qualities. This is a fascinating and engaging book by two established and "real world" scholars which will serve students and policy makers alike in the fields of criminal justice and social policy′ - Loraine Gelsthorpe, Reader in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge This comprehensive text explains all the key themes in the development and practice of offender rehabilitation. It explores how the issue fits within its wider social and political contexts, giving an insight into its current and future relevance to criminal justice. The book covers the full range of rehabilitative approaches, exploring how criminal justice responses have been influenced by trends such as the treatment model, ′What Works?′, desistance, risk and public protection, and changes in social policy. It offers the following essential features: " theoretical grounding - providing students with all the essential background they need in order to fully understand the subject " historical context - enabling the reader to see how ideas, policies and practices have developed over time " research focus - introducing the reader to questions about how rehabilitative approaches have been evaluated and debates about ′what works′ for particular groups of offenders, such as sexual offenders and drug misusers " study questions and further reading - giving students the tools both to revise and to expand their knowledge Offender Rehabilitation both advances thinking about the notion of rehabilitation, and ensures that students of crime and justice can keep abreast of the most recent developments in this area.