ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we argue that a risk-oriented approach to correctional rehabilitation is deeply flawed and fails to take into account the goal-directed and embodied nature of human action. We highlight problems with the traditional focus on risk factors and then draw from the recent literature on enactivism, embodiment, and agency-based models of dynamic risk factors to offer an alternative perspective. This view of human functioning is able to provide a coherent theoretical basis for a strength-based approach to rehabilitation (for example, the Good Lives Model) and provides a promising way to integrate psychological (that is, cognitive, emotional) and desistance processes. This approach acknowledges the role of interpersonal factors (supporters, community integration) alongside personal agency, and is thus compatible with social rehabilitation and reintegration of persons who have committed crimes.
