IN-CJ Newsdesk 2025 – Dr Abigail Tucker ‘Perspective on Rehabilitation’
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Dr Abigail Tucker, representing the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology (IACFP), offered an engaging reflection on the role of human-centred rehabilitation and practitioner-led learning within global criminal justice systems. She outlined IACFP’s mission to support psychologists and behavioural health professionals working in complex correctional environments, emphasising evidence-informed and humane practice as core principles.
Sharing insights from a recent IACFP board meeting and learning exchange in Oslo, Abigail described how Norway’s commitment to human-centred correctional approaches provides both inspiration and challenge for colleagues working in larger, more punitive systems. While acknowledging that Nordic models cannot simply be replicated elsewhere, she noted that the advocacy strategies, design priorities and cultural framing used in Norway offer valuable lessons when arguing for better environments, lower staff ratios and rehabilitative practice in other jurisdictions.
A central theme of her contribution was the importance of boundaries and relational practice within correctional work. Abigail explained that traditional training often discourages professionals from showing humanity, yet emerging research demonstrates that rigid, depersonalised boundaries are counterproductive to rehabilitation. She discussed the challenge practitioners face in balancing professionalism with authentic human connection, and how global peer exchange helps break the isolation often felt by psychologists working inside prisons.
In conversation with other contributors, Abigail explored the limits of international comparison, noting that differences in prison size, social context and national attitudes to criminal justice affect how models translate across settings. However, she stressed that shared learning still matters: even when systems differ, practitioners everywhere confront similar tensions between retribution, rehabilitation, public expectations and resource constraints.
Responding to the question of why societies should act humanely toward serious offenders, Abigail highlighted the profound histories of trauma and deprivation that frequently precede harmful behaviour. She argued that while mental illness or substance use does not excuse offending, shame-based responses do not transform people. Recovery-oriented approaches rooted in dignity, contact and community integration are far more effective, a truth made visible when practitioners witness individuals rebuilding their lives after incarceration.
Her contribution reinforces the Newsdesk’s wider themes: that humane practice is inseparable from social context, that practitioners benefit from international dialogue, and that rehabilitation is most effective when built on connection, evidence and an honest understanding of human experience.
