Strength based approaches and protective factors from a criminological perspective

•A criminological review of strengths based approaches to crime•Examination of Fergus McNeill's (2012) four forms of 'offender' rehabilitation•Discussion focusing on some of the limitations of current approaches to rehabilitation

This paper provides a review of the current criminological landscape in relation to positive criminology and strengths based responses to crime. It does this by drawing on four forms of 'offender' rehabilitation as detailed in Fergus McNeill's (2012) seminal work. By using the four domains of psychological, social, moral and legal; this paper outlines current criminological literature, policy, and practice, highlighting some of its limitations. In all, the paper supports the call made by McNeill that in order to work with those mandated by the criminal justice system, a strength based and integrated approach to rehabilitation is needed.