Making Good by Shadd Maruna

Jonathan Hussey

4 days ago

2 min read

Book author: Shadd Maruna

Edition: American Psychological Association · Paperback, 2007 · ISBN 9781433802140

A thoughtful starting point for understanding how people build an identity and a future beyond offending.

Making Good by Shadd Maruna - full book cover

Book overview

Making Good puts a different question at the centre of criminal justice: how do people build a life beyond offending? Drawing on the Liverpool Desistance Study, Shadd Maruna examines the stories people tell about their past, their choices and the person they hope to become. The emphasis is on identity and meaning, alongside the practical challenge of sustaining change.

Its particular strength is the attention it gives to people’s own explanations. Maruna explores the contrast between accounts that leave a person trapped by their history and accounts that allow a more constructive future. Chapters on work, shame and recognition make this a useful companion to conversations about rehabilitation. For probation readers, it offers a reason to listen closely when someone describes what matters to them and what they believe they can contribute.

This is a research-led book rather than a ready-made programme of exercises. Its findings invite reflection; they should not be treated as a script that every person must follow. Maruna’s later discussion of the study also distinguishes its original focus on individual stories from the wider social conditions involved in reintegration. Reading it alongside current practice guidance and more recent desistance research will help keep that wider context in view.

Best suited to probation practitioners, criminology students and readers interested in the possibilities of rehabilitation. It earns a place in this collection for making personal change a serious subject of inquiry and for encouraging a more attentive approach to the people behind a conviction.