I was a psychiatric social worker in prison and parole mental health settings for eighteen years. During my first few years working at prison, I searched for guidance in the literature on therapy of criminality. I found little. The literature then available -- the late eighties, early nineties -- was written by advocates who idealized prisoners, or by wannabe prosecutors who demonized them. Both camps presented ideology; neither portrayed reality, at least as I saw it; they were of no help in my efforts to help my clients quit crime. Making Good does present that reality. It does so very well. I would have found it helpful at the outset of my career in corrections, and believe it would still be valuable to clinicians now.
Making Good is based on interviews with approximately sixty men and women with histories of petty crime. Half had quit crime, half were still at it. The interview transcripts ring true. In them I recognize the men I saw in individual and group therapy. Building on these interviews, Dr. Maruna articulates achievable and relevant treatment objectives.
He starts with a basic observation. Most petty criminals "age out." They get jobs. They get married. They stop committing crimes. Although this phenomenon is well documented, it is not understood. We do not know why some men give up crime while others continue. Dr. Maruna considers the usual explanations for this aging out process -- "maturation," burnout, increased social and economic opportunity. He shows none of these factors explain why some men leave the life of crime while others do not.
Calling criminals who quit crime "desisters," and those who continue "persisters." he asks if comparing the two sets can lead to an explanation of why some criminals quit while others continue.
He then asks a further question. If it can be determined how desisters differ from persisters, can an understanding this "aging out" process can be applied to helping persisters quit crime? I had asked this question myself, and not come up with an answer. Dr. Maruna does offer an answer, which I believe is least partially accurate.
He finds no significant difference in the usual suspects: psychopathology, intelligence and educational levels, histories of poverty and age of onset of criminal activity. Desisters and persisters both offer reliable histories of physical abuse. Many were in foster care, where they suffered yet worse abuse. They report egregious sexual abuse in foster care. One respondent tells of being rented out by his foster home on weekends to a pedophile ring.
Persisters and desisters are more alike than different. Persisters are not wholeheartedly committed to crime. Desisters are not enthusiastic law abiding citizens. Desisters and persisters are both fundamentally antisocial. They also agree that being a small time crook is a miserable way to live. Persisters feel stuck in this misery. Desisters have opted out of that misery, more than they have opted into society
The only significant difference between the two sets is locus of control. Persisters see themselves as victims of circumstance, with no way out of the life of crime, while desisters see themselves as agents of their own destiny, capable of doing something other than crime.
This book has four fundamental assets:
First, Dr. Maruna is exquisitely attuned to criminals, both unreconstructed and reformed.
He captures the thought and speech of this population; their passive voice expressing the disconnect between themselves and their crimes, and the active voice when they share something they've done right. He tracks the petty criminal's resolution, when arrested, to quit crime, and his ensuing sense of futility as he slips back into his old ways once out of jail.
In the persisting criminal's own eyes, he is the true, helpless victim of his own crimes. He denigrates anyone who succeeds in managing every day adult responsibilities. If he desists, the skepticism of people who knew him before his reform discourages him, while the positive response of people who came into his life afterward surprises him.
Persisters and desisters tell very different life narratives. Asked about critical turning points in their lives, desisters talk of things they have done as adults. Persisters talk of things that happened to them as children. The portrait of men doing life on the installment plan, and those done paying that debt is worth the price of admission.
Second, his methodology encourages humility in therapy of criminality. He makes it clear that when we talk about crime and criminality, we are dealing with at best roughly defined, very unclear concepts. Further, in differentiating desisters and persisters, we are dealing not with black and white, but with shades of gray. Constantly returning to the interviews, he shows a reality that is complex and uncertain.
If we are not certain what we are treating, it makes sense to be conservative in therapy of criminality. I was often exhorted to confront prisoners about their crimes, to correct their thinking errors, to teach them life skills. These can be useful and effective interventions if appropriate, but I was reluctant to use them until I knew they fit my clients. For many years I limited myself to listening carefully, and making sure that I made it safe for clients to talk. I stuck to my guns, but Making Good would have left me feeling less on my own.
Third, Dr. Maruna models self awareness. He is willing to call himself out. He thought it would be easy to find criminals determined to continue crime, happy in their choice. He admits he was wrong. He found very few persisting criminals happy in their work. Most wished they could drop out of crime.
Having debunked the notion that these are "super predators," he also acknowledges that by labeling them "persisters," he perpetuates the notion that they are predators after all. Persistence implies determination and commitment to the criminal life. Dr. Maruna owns up to the linguistic trap of his own making.
Fourth, having established the difference between desisters and persisters, Dr. Maruna provides a solid basis for relevant and effective therapy of criminality. Most therapy of criminality assumes that criminals must be forced to admit they have hurt their victims. They must be forced to develop insight and accept the principle of right and wrong.
Dr. Maruna shows these ideas are wrong. Since desisters and persisters differ in the realm of self-efficacy, not in morality, confronting criminals is a waste of time. Dr. Maruna dismisses clinicians who believe that for criminals, "incriminating themselves is in their own best interests." Rather than trying to get criminals to become good, we need to focus on helping them feel effective.
The question then, is how to promote self-efficacy. It will not happen overnight. There will be no epiphany, no bolt from the blue. There will be no conversion on the road to Damascus. Instead, there needs to be a change in habits. Quitting crime is like quitting smoking; people do it all the time. Successful desistance, prevention of relapse, demands follow up. Desisters are not "cured." They enter recovery. They need a support system.
This formulation is consistent with my own experience. Only occasionally did my telling clients how to solve their problems do any good. They rarely left sessions with an insight for which I could take credit. In my best groups the group members came up with their own answers to questions raised by their peers. My job was to make it safe for them to discuss problems and come up with their own answers. I believe that my ideas for solutions were consistently better than theirs, but the ideas the group came up with were their own. They benefitted more from learning to solve problems on their own, without resorting to crime, than in learning how I would solve their problems.
If I not only facilitated the group, but also made it mine, the group failed. If I facilitated the group and relinquished control so that the members owned it, the group succeeded.
I have one caveat. This book is a snapshot. It shows the difference between persisters and desisters, but not how the difference came about. A longitudinal study might show this evolution and might also correct the book's one defect: it underestimates how hard it is to quit crime. Quitting crime takes persistence in therapy, in recovery, in education and cultivation of a sense of being the author of one's own destiny.
Still, this book remains unique in my experience in offering a vision of change which is effective because it passes no moral judgments. It builds upon solid evidence of the difference between criminals who quit and criminals who do not. Its findings, its approach and methodology make it worth reading for anyone thinking about the objectives of therapy in correctional settings.
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2012
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Top reviews from other countries
- longhornmothReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2017
great read but specialist
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- Dr Dave. HReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 6, 2019
The book was an important contribution to desistance of crime.
