The relevance of human flourishing to offender rehabilitation

Abstract

The relevance of human flourishing to offender rehabilitation Sung Joon Jang and Byron R. Johnson, both from Baylor University, turn the spotlight on the relevance of human flourishing to offender rehabilitation in Colombia and South Africa. Humans are born with fundamental needs for survival (e.g., food, clothing, and shelter) and flourishing, which concerns happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships (VanderWeele, 2017). Survival needs are essential to human existence, but flourishing needs are not meant to be secondary or less important. While the sustenance of life is necessary for human flourishing, both types of innate needs should be seen as primary concerns from a holistic point of view. This is evident because even when physical and material needs are fully met, people may still decline mentally or relationally. They may experience “diseases of excess” or “deaths of despair” (Clifton, 2022).