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This study addresses the process experienced by youth who started out as volunteering beneficiaries in treatment settings and became volunteers for at-risk youth themselves. Using the phenomenological approach, the study included 10 Israeli interviewees aged 20 to 30 who were regular volunteers. The findings suggested three themes related to the process experienced by the volunteers: (1) perceived altruism—the altruism attributed to the volunteers who had benefited the participants as youths; (2) the identity transformation from beneficiary to benefactor; and (3) acquired altruism—the acquisition of that trait by the participants. Applying the principles of positive criminology, this study shows how attributing altruism to the behavior of the volunteer can serve as fertile ground for acquiring altruism oneself, in a process that eventually results in volunteering for the benefit of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

T he controversy over vaccines has persisted since their introduction in the eighteenth century. While many studies have addressed the concerns and motivations of the general population regarding hesitation and resistance to vaccination (especially parents, concerning routine childhood immunization), the present study was designed to examine this issue among professionals from a victimological perspective, thus its uniqueness. Study participants were researchers and practitioners involved with vaccines who hold a critical position on vaccines and their ways of dealing with what they perceived as suppression of dissent in the field of vaccination. The motivations identified among the researchers and practitioners in our study referred to ethical aspects of professional obligation to patients, patient rights, freedom of choice, and lack of trust in the medical establishment. The participants also perceived themselves as victims of suppressive tactics due to their critical position, to which they responded in two contrasting ways: continuing to dissent while insisting on their right to have their voices heard or abandoning their public dissent due to the reactions and repercussions they faced. The article discusses the implications of these findings in the context of scientific integrity, violation of democratic and ethical values, freedom of speech, and its impact on the public’s trust in science and medicine.

The research literature on the recovery and growth processes of the homeless population is limited and lacking—particularly with regard to the recovery and growth potential of that population, and its recovery capital (RC) dynamics. This qualitative study fills the research gap by examining the recovery process on its various manifestations, the formation of RC, the patterns of coping with distress, and the growth processes experienced. Ten semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with participants from a homeless hostel. The results show how a population with low or depleted RC, in a state of extreme distress, and in the throes of a bottom-up experience, succeeds in developing RC on a personal, social, and spiritual level—and through it, also reaching post-crisis growth. This study yields innovative terminology to describe the coping patterns and their development in three stages— economical coping, liminal stage of resources mustering, and resourceful coping —and a model to explain the phenomenon, and re-conceptualize it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education serves as the primary line of defense against crime and other psychological difficulties. Children exposed to adversity and emotional challenges may be susceptible to various risks, potentially leading to criminal activities. Forgiveness has been demonstrated as a healing influence in the lives of individuals who have experienced hurt and accumulated negative emotions due to life events. Understanding forgiveness from a young age, in both theory and practice, may facilitate improved relationships and psychological well-being. This article underscores the significance of forgiveness education, advocating for a culturally and theologically sensitive approach. In this article we will offer an example of integrating forgiveness education principles with insights from Judaic sources. The aim is to generate insights regarding theologically sensitive forgiveness in general by focusing on Judaism. As we demonstrate, the implications of this approach extend beyond the Jewish context, and our conclusions and recommendations are applicable to diverse cultures and religions worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the role, if there is any, of our free will in the deterministic experience of being an addict? The acknowledgment of free will has theoretical, practical, and social consequences as well as an impact on those struggling with addiction. This article examines the freewill dynamic of people in active addiction and recovery phases through a Kantian lens, mainly in terms of autonomy and heteronomy, using the 12-step program as a case study. We show that free will and deterministic experience of compulsive use both manifest in addiction and recovery in a dynamic and episodic manner. We also show how heteronomy may be functional in recovery and in cultivating autonomous conduct. In addition to an interpretive grounding, we provide guidelines for the restoration of the individual's agency by assessing the factors enabling its cultivation in the 12-step program. This process converges into several procedural categories: diffused heteronomy, taking responsibility for the entrustment of will, the liminal stage with its nurture of autonomy and moral identity, and spiritual freedom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the need for positive victimology and its unique contribution to victimology. Victimology presented a shift in attention and awareness in practice, research and theory, by focusing on victims of crime and of abuse of power, and on victims’ rights and victims’ services. Positive victimology indicates a more specified shift in attention and awareness, within the larger shift of victimology. This shift stands in line with positive psychology, positive criminology and the idea of victims’ victimology. It denotes an approach to provide the following, as much as possible: 1. A wide range of social responses to the victims and their victimization that victims can experience as positive, 2. Positive outcomes of healing and recovery for victims, and 3. Positive integration of victims. Within each of those, positive victimology suggests a pragmatic coordinated system that ranges from definitions of negative poles to those of positive ones. When moving towards the positive pole at any given coordinate, a sense of justice is an important factor that might reduce the impact of the harm. Support is also a crucial factor and at the very positive pole, stands human, inter-personal love.

In Overeaters Anonymous (OA), the 12-step self-help program for compulsive overeaters, binge eating is regarded as a physical, spiritual, and emotional disorder. Consequently, the program proposes recovery through the adoption of a lifestyle that leads to physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being. A qualitative phenomenological study that focused on the emotional recovery of OA members was conducted. Personal narratives were obtained through semistructured in-depth interviews. It was found that the tools used for spiritual and emotional work at OA are essential to recovery. Furthermore, the experience of secure attachment is likely to occur within OA when safe ground is provided and positive attachment figures are accessible. These safe ground and positive attachment figures facilitate a corrective emotional experience that compensates for a childhood recollected in terms of rejection and time spent with a caregiver who lacked the emotional availability required for the creation of a secure attachment. Theoretical, clinical, and future research implications are discussed.

This article discusses the theoretical and practical development of a new perspective called Positive Victimology. A review of constructing worlds such as Positive Criminology and Positive Psychology is examined in their importance and contribution towards founding the preliminary yet innovative discipline of Positive Victimology. However since this domain is an enhancement or improvement of already existent terminology there is a need to investigate the true theoretical and practical need for a new field while weighing the advantages and shortcomings of producing new territory.

Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is investigated as a subculture of recovery bridging the drug subculture and the prevailing culture. A phenomenological study of NA in Israel is reported. Innovation, cultural conflict, the value of recovery and its norms, supporting social mechanisms, limitations of the program, and intercultural attributes are considered. (EMK)

Drug use studies have mainly examined risk management among vulnerable populations that are commonly categorized by their risk-taking behavior. They have not, however, investigated functioning users' perceptions of risks and harms. The current study attempts to fill this gap by examining how functioning people who are in the process of building their careers or family lives perceive and manage the risks and harms of drug use. We interviewed 29 Israelis who use drugs, dividing them into two different groups: the first comprised 16 regular or previously regular cannabis users and one cocaine user who didn't describe themselves as problematic users and were not in treatment; the second comprised 13 regular users of cannabis, methadone, MDA, and cocaine who described themselves as problematic users and were in treatment. We conducted content analysis of these interviews which refers to both risk management and harm management and defined three different options. The first option refers to participants who described feeling no risk or harm from their drug use. The second focuses on participants' perceptions of the subjective risks and their ability to manage them via the following domains: social relationships, profession, social status, finances, and health and lifestyle. The third deals with participants who recognized the harms in the domains of family and social relationships, health, and daily functioning. An understanding of these three options could help counselors when encountering such users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spiritual criminology (SC) is an umbrella term for various criminological theories, models and practices that share reference to the spiritual dimension of human existence. Informed by a growing body of research that applies spiritual approaches to various aspects of criminology, SC attempts to provide a common thread shared by most approaches to spirituality: a voluntary self-journey that begins with an elevated level of self-centeredness and is aimed at self-transformation. Based on an extensive review of the literature, this paper proposes three general principles for spiritual accompaniment of people who offended: mindful non-doing, being and acting; love and compassion; and compassionate inclusion. These principles can be applied by combining several practices: renouncing control over knowledge, process and outcomes; creating a moral atmosphere that includes forgiveness and nonjudgment; and self-modeling. SC is shown to contribute to the rehabilitation of people who offended and also to crime prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trauma and its consequences, such as PTSD, have been thoroughly researched in recent years. Spirituality, religious and non-religious alike, has been used for a variety of purposes by humanity, including recovery from trauma and its consequences. However, spirituality's role in maintaining the recovery of people with PTSD has not yet been sufficiently researched. This qualitative study attempts to fill the gap through interviews with 50 individuals from different backgrounds who recovered from PTSD and who attributed their recovery to spirituality; however, each of them went through their own traumas, had different piety levels, and used different recovery methods. The results show that spirituality can serve as recovery capital for those dealing with trauma and PTSD: the transition between spiritual deprivation and active spiritual yearning initiates a process of recovery and the acquisition of 'spiritual recovery capital.' Spiritual recovery capital has unique characteristics, accumulates as recovery progresses, and was even found among those who did not see themselves as spiritual before their trauma(s) and PTSD diagnosis. The research shows that spirituality can be useful for trauma survivors and therapists at all stages of recovery and can also promote maintaining recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this review is to highlight the similarities and differences between positive psychology and positive criminology—both relatively new concepts that represent an optimistic view of human beings and their ability to recover—while calling for a change of focus in the discourse and research of their respective fields. To this end, we first present a brief overview of each of these perspectives, along with findings of studies that confirm their assumptions, and then address their similarities and differences, with an emphasis on positive criminology which is our area of expertise. We conclude that both approaches seek to improve the quality of life and well-being of individuals, families, and communities through the development of human strengths and skills and the provision of social assistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]