Positive criminology
Positive criminology is based on the perspective that integration and positive life influences that help individuals develop personally and socially will lead to a reduced risk of criminal behavior and better recovery of offenders. Integration works in three levels: inter-personal, intra-personal and spiritual. Positive influences include participation in recovery programs, such as those for substance use disorders. Factors that can make growth difficult include a long-standing pattern of criminal activity, serious adverse life events, and chronic mental health illness.
History
The term "positive criminology" was first introduced by Natti Ronel and his research team at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Accordingly, it represents a wide perspective that includes several existing models and theories. It is partially based on Peacemaking criminology and on Positive Psychology, and relates to known and accepted models such as restorative justice.Enrico Ferri, a socialist, introduced his theory of positive criminality, which was based upon the elimination of antisocial conduct according to "a science of society, taking on for itself the task of the eradication of crime", during three lectures in Naples, Italy in 1901. Rather than punishment, Ferri believed that crimes should be addressed by social sanctions, in proportion to the degree of danger of the criminal act and risk to society. He and other determinists, like Baruch Spinoza, eschewed the concept of moral guilt and responsibility. While libertarianists, like Immanuel Kant of the 18th-century, believed in the concept of morality that may be subject to change. In the 19th century, there were also social scientists that believed that effectively combating criminality included improving society's health and welfare and eliminating poverty.
Treatment and rehabilitation
Strength-based treatment programs
In recent years, various programs have been developed in the field of rehabilitation of offenders, in community and prison, based on the principles of cognitive-behavioral approach, usually implemented in a group setting. These programs are considered a form of strength-based treatment, due to the emphasis on personal, interpersonal and social skills developed that enable participants to acquire pro-social lifestyle, which may also reduce their need for deviant behaviors. The assumption underlying these programs is that those who work on acquisition of new positive skills, rather than just avoidance from negative behaviors, will achieve better results and be able to maintain the positive outcomes for the long run. Recent studies indicated their effectiveness in reducing recidivism amongst released offenders.The Good Lives Model
The Good Lives Model, first proposed by Ward and Stewart and further developed by Ward and colleagues, is a strengths-based approach to offender rehabilitation that is responsive to offenders' particular interests, abilities, and aspirations. It also directs practitioners to explicitly construct intervention plans that help offenders to acquire the capabilities to achieve the things that are personally meaningful to them. It assumes that all individuals have similar aspirations and needs and that one of the primary responsibilities of parents, teachers, and the broader community is to help each of us acquire the tools required to make our own way in the world.Criminal behavior results when individuals lack the internal and external resources necessary to satisfy their values using pro-social means, or where a single aspiration or need is valued exclusively over all other aspirations or needs. In other words, criminal behavior represents a maladaptive attempt to meet life values, or a singular focus on one specific life value.
Offenders, like all humans, value certain states of mind, personal characteristics, and experiences, which are defined in the GLM as primary goods. Following an extensive review of psychological, social, biological, and anthropological research, Ward and colleagues proposed eleven classes of primary goods: life, knowledge, excellence in play, excellence in work, excellence in agency, inner peace, friendship, community, spirituality, happiness, and creativity. Whilst it is assumed that all humans seek out all the primary goods to some degree, the weightings or priorities given to specific primary goods reflect an offender's values and life priorities. Moreover, the existence of a number of practical identities, based on, for example, family roles, work, and leisure mean that an individual might draw on different value sources in different contexts, depending on the normative values underpinning each practical identity. Instrumental goods, or secondary goods, provide concrete means of securing primary goods and take the form of approach goals.
Existential therapy
is based on the premise that there are several factors that influence one's life, like culture and biology, and that the central problems people experience are due to isolation, anxiety, despair, and loneliness. The goal of therapy is to develop skills to make good life choices and use positive forces—like love, authenticity, and creativity— to create a meaningful life. Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and author of Man's Search for Meaning, said that according to research there was a correlation between lack of meaning in one's life and depression, addictions, and criminal behavior. People who do not have a sense of meaning in their life are prone to neurotic compulsions and obsessions, boredom, materialism, hatred, power, and hedonistic pleasures. Rather than focusing on the past or future, existential therapy focuses on the present and the relationship with one's self, by being aware of one's feelings, using relaxation and other forms of therapies, and learning how to deal directly with issues.Yoga and meditation programs
and meditation programs have been used in correctional facilities to promote reflection, mindfulness and patience, and reduce stress in an environment that is a breeding ground for violence and negative thinking. A yoga program was established in the United States at San Quentin State Prison in 2002 by James Fox. Formalized later as the Prison Yoga Project, it teaches asana, pranayama, and meditation practices—and how to train the mind not to be reactive—which helps individuals cope from past trauma and develop more productive behavior patterns. More than 100 jails and prisons in the United States have replicated the Prison Yoga Project programs. Steven Belenko, a professor with Temple University's Department of Criminal Justice states that yoga and meditation instruction could be provided via DVDs, which would be a relatively low-cost solution for prisons.Self-help groups and the 12-step program
One of the most popular approaches in the Western world for self-change in the field of addiction is that of the twelve-step program. Self-help groups in general, and in particular the twelve-step programs, which emphasize spiritual and moral change, represent another aspect of positive criminology. The groups serve as a place for learning and practicing new behavior and values, alongside spiritual development. Research conducted among addicts who participated in the twelve-step program and the Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous self- and mutual-help groups has identified several therapeutic elements that helped addicts in the recovery process, including change in their perception of life and finding new and noble meaning to life, spiritual awakening through faith in a higher power that helps them to abstain from psychoactive substances, transformation of anger and resentment into forgiveness, and sponsoring another person in the recovery process. According to Ronel, self-help organizations such as NA constitute a bridge to recovery, connecting the drug subculture to the general dominant culture.The twelve-step program originated in AA and was then adopted by other self-help organizations that target a variety of problems, such as drug addiction, eating disorders, emotional disturbance, and others. Since its inception, the twelve-step program has caught the attention of professionals as a possible expert approach of therapy, first limited to addiction and later extended into other fields, such as domestic violence or victims' assistance, as well. It could, therefore, be perceived as being a general, professional treatment method and program for recovery, also known as Grace Therapy. In a professional setting, the 12 steps may be adapted to the changing needs of the participants.