ABSTRACT
The Good Lives Model (GLM) is a strengths-based approach to offender rehabilitation, which has demonstrated success across multiple offending typologies at reducing recidivism. Based on the principle of universal human needs, the GLM suggests that offending occurs when barriers prevent the attainment of these needs via prosocial strategies (e.g., employment/healthy relationships). By supporting individuals to attain their needs and goals, the GLM assumes that engagement in offending behavior will equally decline. Although the GLM is an increasingly popular framework for offender rehabilitation, there has been a dearth of research examining the applicability of this for understanding and treating gang members. As such, this chapter theoretically applies the GLM to explain the onset and maintenance of gang membership and gives suggestions on how to implement a GLM-consistent intervention with gang members.
