27. Shadd Maruna: What is desistance?

In this informal and wide ranging conversation Shadd explains what is meant by desistance and how this is distinguished from the term rehabilitation. With great warmth he thinks about the importance of listening, whether as a mentor or mentee and givies his assessment of the structure of forensic psychology

Shadd Maruna is Professor of Criminology at Queen’s University Belfast and a member of the Correctional Services Accreditation and Advice Panel.  He has previously held the post of Dean of Rutger’s School of Criminal Justice in the USA and worked at Cambridge and Manchester Universities.   

His research focuses on desistance and the implications for reintegration into society after imprisonment.  In 2001, his book, “Making Good: How ex-convicts reform and rebuild their lives” was named as outstanding contribution to Criminology in 2001.   

He has since authored or edited 6 other books and has won the Hans Mattick Award for distinguished contribution to criminology in 2014 and the inaugural research medal from the Howard League for Penal Reform in 2012 for his research’s impact on real world practice.   

He has been a SOROS Justice fellow, a Fulbright Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow.  He has also been involved in several Learning Together partnerships between prisons and universities and is an advisor to several organisations that advocate for rights for people who’ve previously been imprisoned.

Shadd was a long term friend and colleague of Hans Toch, Austrian American social psychologist and criminologist.  Shadd said Hans 'was my mentor for my whole professional career. And my role model as a scholar. He lived a great life.  To 91. He called em like he saw em and he wasn’t afraid.'

As Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the School of Criminal Justice at the University at Albany, New York Professor Toch had an enormous influence on numerous people in the criminal justice field over many years. We are just receiving news of his recent death and will post when we know more.