Living to Tell the Tale: Redemption Narratives, Shame Management, and Offender Rehabilitation.

Psychotherapy

May 2021

Full Citation

Maruna, S. & Ramsden, D. (2004). Living to Tell the Tale: Redemption Narratives, Shame Management, and Offender Rehabilitation. Healing plots: The narrative basis of psychotherapy., 129-149. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10682-007

Abstract

In this chapter, we argue that a social process of narrative reconstruction--similar to what takes place in 12-step meetings every day-- provides a means of escape from this chimera of deviance and shame. We begin by critically reviewing the traditional understanding of narratives of deviance in criminology and related disciplines. Many of our examples will focus on addiction and recovery because this is where the narrative perspective has been best developed, yet our interest is in "deviance" more generally, with implications for disapproved behavior of other sorts. We review the dominant paradigms in offender treatment and describe how the deconstruction of deviant narratives has become a central activity in the rehabilitative work with offenders. We argue that although the correctional system has become adept at breaking down deviant self-justifications, the system does less well at the more challenging task of helping clients develop new, positive life scripts for themselves. In support of this argument, we briefly present an analytical portrait of the subjective world of 30 persistent deviants--individuals in their 40s who have spent much of their adult lives going to jail. We outline what is known about the social process of narrative reconstruction (again drawing mainly from the addiction recovery literature). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)