Desistance from Sex Offending: Alternatives to Throwing Away the Keys
by D. Richard Laws and Tony Ward
Reviewed in the online journal Open Access Journal of Forensic Psychology
If one set out to design an intervention program to encourage criminals to reoffend,what would it look like? It should include the converse of what helps offenders desist from crime. It should isolate offenders from prosocial influences and opportunities for good jobs or relationships. It should remind them that they are hopelessly flawed and will never succeed. In this way, it would encourage alienation and helplessness, the “condemnation script” that Shadd Maruna (2001) found among men who persist in crime.
Related classic:
Shadd Maruna’s 2001
Making Good: How Ex-Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives
Winner of a 2001 American Society of Criminology Award for Most Outstanding Contribution To Criminology, this meticulously researched book describes the process through which hard-core criminal recidivists desist from crime to lead productive lives.
Recent & Upcoming
Peer consultant
Dr. Franklin is excited to join the multidisciplinary Pacific Forensic Group as a peer consultant.
Podcast interview
Dr. Franklin converses with Laverne Cox about violence against transgender people.
Book chapter
Forensic Psychology in Military Courts, edited by U.S. Air Force Major Christopher Stein and forensic psychologist Jeffrey Younggren, includes a chapter by Dr. Franklin on psychological evaluations in military courts-martial.
NPR radio interview
Dr. Franklin discusses the career of forensic psychology with job coach Marty Nemko on NPR. Listen online or download the podcast HERE.
Career interview
An in-depth interview about Dr. Franklin’s career by psychologist David Webb is online at “All About Forensic Science.”
Training feedback
Participant evaluations of professional trainings has been updated with attorney feedback from a recent training for the Santa Clara County Superior Court on evaluating juvenile competency.
Book review
A review of the first-ever textbook on multiple-perpetrator rape, which includes a chapter by Dr. Franklin, has been published by the European journal Sexologies.
Profiled
Dr. Franklin was profiled in a high school forensic science textbook.