Natti Ronel

• PhD
• Head of Department at Bar Ilan University

Traditionally, addiction has been seen as a loss-of-control issue, marked by a subjective sense of powerlessness. However, a paradoxically positive perception of powerlessness exists, partly rooted in the 12-step program, though its scientific exploration and practical implications remain limited. This phenomenological study examined perceptions an...

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...

This chapter explores punishment, repentance, and rehabilitation through the lens of spiritual Jewish criminology. It examines the philosophical underpinnings of punishment, advocating for a compassionate approach that fosters reform and societal reintegration. Alternatives to incarceration, such as the Hebrew slave and city of refuge, are explored...

This chapter delves into the multifaceted terrain of criminal behavior, revealing its underlying pillars: the environment, pride, and spirit of folly. Drawing from Jewish scriptures and contemporary research, it explores how environmental stimuli mold human consciousness toward criminality. It also examines how pride fuels negative behaviors, erodi...

Positive spiritual Jewish criminology emerges as a transformative approach, integrating positive criminology, positive psychology, and spiritual principles into criminal rehabilitation. It emphasizes love, giving, and seeking the inherent good in individuals, acknowledging both perpetrators and victims as products of circumstance. This perspective...

For too long, criminology has been constrained by secular rationalist thought, neglecting the profound insights found in spiritual traditions that have guided humanity for millennia. This chapter explores the intersection of religion, spirituality, and criminology, drawing from diverse philosophical perspectives and Jewish scriptures. It navigates...

This chapter presents a nuanced exploration of human nature and the complexities of morality within the framework of spiritual Jewish criminology, blending ancient wisdom with contemporary insights. It delves into the inherent tension between good and evil, drawing from diverse philosophical and religious perspectives. Through a metaphorical pyrami...

This chapter provides a comprehensive explication of the qualitative methodological approach employed in exploring Jewish scriptural teachings through the lens of criminology. The researchers introduce their professional perspective in a brief statement at the start of the chapter. The study was grounded in a constructivist paradigm, utilizing a he...

Religions have a significant and profound impact on cultures. Therefore, we must consider the impact of paradigms, ideas, and values rooted in the client’s religious theology while using therapeutic methods in the field. We term this a “theological-sensitive therapy” and exemplify it with the “translation” of a known therapeutic approach, forgivene...

Recovery from addiction is a complex process that involves changes in an individual’s environment, behavior patterns, and self-perception. Long-term recovery (LTR) denotes enduring changes that occur over a period of five years or longer. While previous research has focused mainly on the typology of substance users, the present study sought to esta...

This phenomenological research examined family relationships among ideological nonhuman-animal rights activists, while distinguishing between law-breaking and law-abiding activists. Analysis of semi-structured interviews with 30 activists highlighted two phases within the familial dynamics. During the joining phase, conflicts arose between the part...

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 Ka...

Disappointment is an under-studied concept in the field of PTSD; it is nevertheless apparent in testimonies of individuals diagnosed with PTSD. Self-disappointment, disappointment with others, and disappointment with the Sublime are mentioned in the literature yet were not studied and described in the context of PTSD and spiritual recovery. This st...

This study aims to describe the spiritual characteristics of sexual victimization and the recovery journey of survivors via applying spiritual principles, in order to harness the findings for the development of the theory of Spiritual Victimology. Two research questions were asked: what spiritual principles characterize victimization and recovery f...

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 pr...

This study aims to explore how individuals with affiliation to spirituality and victimization attribute sexual trauma and revictimization to spiritual principles and its perceived impact on victim assistance. A phenomenological research was conducted with 36 participants divided into three groups: female survivors who turned to spirituality as part...

The current study aims to describe a spiritual facet of recovery processes from sexual trauma, as manifested in the transformation from the frustration and despair of looking for reasons to the traumatic event(s) to the growth and prosperity of finding meaning. A phenomenological research was conducted, interviewing individuals with a variety of af...

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 fo...

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 sufficien...

The emergence of COVID-19 has led to numerous controversies over COVID-related knowledge and policy. To counter the perceived threat from doctors and scientists who challenge the official position of governmental and intergovernmental health authorities, some supporters of this orthodoxy have moved to censor those who promote dissenting views. The...

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 fir...

The controversy over vaccines has recently intensified in the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with calls from politicians, health professionals, journalists, and citizens to take harsh measures against so-called “anti-vaxxers,” while accusing them of spreading “fake news” and as such, of endangering public health. However, the issue of suppre...

Ideological delinquency of animal rights activists has been studied, but there is a lack of research into its impact on family members. The present study examines how 18 family members (nine parents, nine partners) of ideological lawbreaking animal rights activists perceived their relationship with the activists. The analysis of semi-structured int...

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 s...

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 the...

The current study examined drug users’ perspectives on strategies that helped them to maintain normative functioning or resolve impaired functioning. We interviewed 29 drug users who described themselves as functioning normatively while using drugs on a regular basis until they experienced harms or raised concerns of future harms. The content analy...

Research has shown that incarcerated individuals experience significantly higher rates of trauma prior to and during incarceration, compared with the general population. However, despite the rich evidence regarding traumatic backgrounds, and evidence of a link between trauma and (re)offending, trauma-informed practice among inmates, particularly am...

Offender rehabilitation is a challenging goal that calls for ongoing creative innovations. Amongst is a non-doing rehabilitative initiation that is inspired by spiritual traditions. The aim of this paper is to present an application of non-doing offender rehabilitation that has no declared intention to rehabilitate, carried by a peacemaking Islamic...

The controversy over vaccines, which has recently intensified following the COVID-19 pandemic, provokes heated debates, with both advocates and opponents raising allegations of bias and fraud in research. Researchers whose work raises doubts about the safety of certain vaccines claim to be victims of discriminatory treatment aimed at suppressing di...

Drawing on a person-centered approach to recovery from substance use that acknowledges recovery pathways as shaped by people's personal and social context, the purpose of this study was to compare recovery maintenance of two pathways, self-change and treatment-change. A mixed methods design was employed among 229 respondents [134 self-changers (SCs...

This study examines processes of psychological acceptance and perceived locus of control among at-risk adolescents and analyzes their influence on the avoidance or cessation of delinquent activity. The findings reveal that this process of psychological acceptance helps the adolescents to reinterpret risk factors in their lives as challenges that ca...

This qualitative study illuminates the experience of volunteering at sexual assault crisis centers among women survivors of sexual assault. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 women who had been volunteering at four different sexual assault crisis centers across Israel for 1 to 17 years. The findings reveal three main themes. First, there ar...

The goal of the present study was to gain insight into the experience of parents and siblings of incarcerated men who went through different stages of legal proceedings, arrest, and incarceration. The main questions of the research revolved around family relationships, attitudes toward various situations and perceived obstacles and experiences thro...

The presented study examined dynamics and perceptions among family members of ideologues lawbreaking animal rights activists. In the course of the study, parents and spouses of activists were interviewed, and its findings highlighted a number of key themes: glorification of the activist, an envy directed toward elements of the activism; personal ga...

Objective: The present study aimed to explore the lived experience of the spontaneous creation in art by Holocaust survivor artists, and to gain new insight into the way creative engagement may relate to survivors' traumatic past. Method: Following the phenomenological paradigm of qualitative research, semistructured interviews were conducted wi...

The aims of the current study were to examine differences between self-changers (SC) and treatment-changers (TC) in sociodemographic, personal characteristics, severity of substance use disorders (SUDs), and psychiatric problems, and to predict the severity of SUDs, psychiatric problems, and belonging to the SC group. The sample included 229 Israel...

The discipline of victimology has made remarkable progress since its creation in the middle of the last century. Yet the expansion of victimology as a field of social science has experienced a growing gap between the purely academic study and theorization in victimology and the various advocacies related to victims. While research fields such as cr...

The study explores 29 individuals who described themselves as functioning normatively while using drugs on a regular basis. They defined their use as intensive, constant, and playing a significant part in their normative lives. The content analysis revealed a typology consisting of four different types of normative users: the socially connected use...

A mixed-methods design was used to examine gender differences in self-change (SC), and integrate the quantitative findings with information extracted from qualitative narratives. The sample included 133 self-changers (52 women and 81 men), with a subsample of 25 respondents. The quantitative analysis showed no significant gender differences in pers...

Much of what has been written about prison masculinity has focused on the hypermasculine climate of prisons that rewards aggression and the concealment of vulnerability. However, the findings of more recent studies have indicated a more varied ideal of masculinity in this environment. The present research examined how inmates construct and understa...

Limited attention has been given to Homeless Injection Drug Users (HIDUs) perceived need for illegal substances. This study assessed self-perceived illegal drug need in HIDUs based on their experiences. Observations and in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 11 HIDUs and with four treatment professionals. The findings revealed three fi...

The current research is a qualitative examination of the relations between self-control and deterministic/non-deterministic perceptions of life events and the drifts into or desistance from a criminal spin among juvenile delinquents. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 21 adolescents (11 active delinquents and 10 desisters), we found...

Forgiveness within the context of the aftermath of the Holocaust has been the focus of a large body of philosophic, ethical, and theological scholarly literature. However, studies applying a more social psychological lens, focusing on the healing aspects of forgiveness for Holocaust survivors, have, to date, been extremely scarce. This is despite e...

This qualitative, phenomenological study conducted in Israel consisted of interviews with 14 close relatives of murder victims whose cases generated media interest. The research offers a comprehensive view of the endeavors of the participants to be heard in both the criminal justice system and the media. The findings indicate that despite the growi...

The article describes traditional mediators (in Amharic, shmaglotz meaning “elders;” in the singular: shmagaleh) who fill a range of roles within the community of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, as well as a mediation process (in Amharic: shmaglena). The present research is a constructivist-qualitative study. Thirteen respondents participated in th...

Throughout the ages and in most cultures, spiritual and religious thinking have dealt extensively with offending (person against person and person against the Divine), the response to offending, and rehabilitation of offenders. Although modern criminology has generally overlooked that body of knowledge and experience, the study of spirituality and...

This article will survey the dramatic change English football had undergone since the end of the last century. The authors will closely explore the implementation of the Taylor Report recommendations, to convince that which power and management techniques were used to decrease violence in public areas that were previously considered dangerous and c...

The article describes traditional mediators (in Amharic – shmaglotz- means “old”) who fill a range of roles within the community of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, as well as a mediation process (in Amharic: shmaglena ). The present research is a constructivist-qualitative study. Thirteen respondents participated in the study; all of them were expo...

An exploratory, qualitative, phenomenological study focused on the experience of pain while participating in sexual masochistic acts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine individuals (four female, five male) who regularly participate in sexually masochistic acts and point to pain as central to their experience. Qualitative analysis o...

Dropouts from therapeutic communities for people with drug addiction have long been of interest to researchers, and most of the resulting research has been based on quantitative data. The aim of the current qualitative study is to present the perception of adolescent residents regarding their experience of dropping out of Retorno, a Jewish therapeu...

This research focused on a new and unique therapy group for male batterers who were violent toward their intimate partners. The group is based on a small self-help group model, where a professional accompanies the group and serves as the facilitator of the process undergone by the group without interfering with the management of the group and its m...

This study examines the subjective processes of introspection of three groups of adolescents at risk and in distress and analyzes their perceived impact on the development of resilience and, consequently, the abstention and desistence from criminal conduct or, alternatively, the intensification of delinquent behavior. The three groups are: stable n...

residents, were administered in-depth, semistructured, individual interviews. The findings highlight the importance of positive experiences to achieve a sense of integration on multidimensional level—self, social, and spiritual—throughout the recovery process. This progress towards greater integration represents the central aspect of positive crimi...

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 att...

The discourse regarding offender rehabilitation has been criticized by various scholars who have claimed that reducing negative causes and managing risk will not automatically prompt positive human development and elements that are associated with desistance. Positive criminology is an innovative concept that challenges the common preoccupation wit...

Residents’ perceptions of recovery in a therapeutic community (TC) have long been of interest to researchers and addiction practitioners. This study aims to continue this course of research in a TC in Israel. In particular, this study aims to present subjective perceptions of recovery of the clients in Retorno, a Jewish TC, using a qualitative, phe...

Global criminology is an emerging field covering international and transnational crimes that have not traditionally been the focus of mainstream criminology or criminal justice. Global Criminology: Crime and Victimization in a Globalized Era is a collection of rigorously peer-reviewed papers presented at the First International Conference of the So...

The present study depicts the experience of gambling in an illegal casino through a qualitative, phenomenological approach, in light of the criminal spin theory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 gamblers and 4 staff members. Qualitative analysis of the data reveals several major categories that describe the participants’ experience...

Abstract Residents’ perceptions of recovery in a therapeutic community (TC) have long been of interest to researchers and addiction practitioners. This study aims to continue this course of research in a TC in Israel. In particular, this study aims to present subjective perceptions of recovery of the clients in Retorno, a Jewish TC, using a qualita...

A qualitative phenomenological study of parents of addicted male adolescents who were residents of a Jewish therapeutic community (TC) describes and interprets the parents' perceptions of the recovery process. Deep, semistructured interviews with 14 parents provided the data. The parents' perceptions were clustered into three main themes of meaning...

A qualitative phenomenological study of parents of addicted male adolescents who were residents of a Jewish therapeutic community (TC) describes and interprets the parents' perceptions of the recovery process. Deep, semistructured interviews with 14 parents provided the data. The parents' perceptions were clustered into three main themes of meaning...

Causal explanations of intimate partner violence (IPV) usually attempt to logically link past events and experiences to the present, in order to provide an etiological account. A different, less common perspective is that of a phenomenological, non-causal interpretation of IPV. Based on the criminal spin theory, the current paper presents the victi...

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 focus...

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 th...

Based on a positive criminology perspective and a qualitative research design, the current study was used to identify the internal strengths and external forces that help imprisoned sex offenders correct and transform their lifestyles. The participants were 38 men incarcerated in two prisons in Israel who had been convicted of various sexual offens...

The innovative theory of the "criminal spin" presents a phenomenological description and interpretation of criminal conduct. The theory indicates a process that occurs in different phases of criminality, involving an escalation of criminal activity, thinking, and emotions that run beyond self-control, sometimes contrary to initial decision. Its phe...

Positive criminology is a new term for a perspective associated with theories and models that relate to socially inclusive, positively experienced influences that assist individuals in desisting or refraining from criminal and deviant behavior. A qualitative phenomenological study of prisoners who were in recovery from substance dependency and who...

Positive criminology is a new conceptual perspective of criminology, encompassing several theories and models. Positive criminology refers to a focus on individuals' encounters with forces and influences that are experienced as positive, which distance them from deviance and crime, whether by means of formal and informal therapy programs and interv...

The purpose of this qualitative research was to examine the change process experienced by imprisoned sex offenders during incarceration from the standpoint of emerging positive criminology perspective. The participants were 38 males incarcerated in two prisons in Israel who had been convicted of various sexual offences. The participants underwent i...

The innovative theory of the "criminal spin" presents a phenomenological description and interpretation of criminal conduct. The theory indicates a process that occurs in different phases of criminality, involving an escalation of criminal activity, thinking, and emotions that run beyond self-control, sometimes contrary to initial decision. Its phe...

Three consecutive, professionally led (as opposed to self-help) groups following the 12-step program (TSP) were integrated into a methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) program that included 32 heroin-addicted individuals in recovery. This report describes our experience in meeting the challenges that arose and our conclusions regarding the therapeu...

A qualitative phenomenological study of high-risk adolescents, who are children of substance-dependent parents, explored the presence of subjective risk and protective factors. Nineteen adolescents were interviewed, all of whom had a father or both parents either actively dependent on psychoactive substances or recovering from substance dependence....

This article deals with the role of bereaved parents' anger as a motivating force for political and public activism. After reviewing the place of anger in the experience of processing loss and bereavement and presenting anger as a factor that leads to public initiative, the article deals with the place that anger occupies in the bereaved sector of...

The family relationships of adolescents brought up by an addicted parent were studied in a qualitative research. The authors interviewed 19 adolescents, all of whom had a parent either actively addicted to drugs or else recovering addicts. The participants were assigned to one of two groups based on the degree to which they maintained normative liv...

Youth volunteering for at-risk youth can have an impact on the clients' willingness to receive help as well as the youth who volunteer. The current study, undertaken in drop-in centers for youth at-risk in Israel, studied youth volunteers in comparison with adult volunteers as well as the clients of the service. It combined quantitative and qualita...

Perceived altruism, an attitude that clients may attribute to those who work with them, was examined in a qualitative and quantitative study about the impact of volunteers in drop-in centers for youth at risk in Israel. Data were collected by interviews, observations, case studies, and questionnaires. The results show that the volunteers' unique co...

This paper focuses on spirituality as part of a broad understanding of intelligence and the inquiry into human abilities. Based on a theistic approach, spiritual intelligence is perceived as an ability to understand the world and oneself through God-centeredness and to adapt one’s life accordingly. It is a basic ability that shapes and directs a...

A hermeneutic-phenomenological study of 13 bereaved parents of fallen soldiers or victims of terrorism describes their grief, anger, and forgiveness in relation to their struggle with personal loss. The findings indicate anger as a major variable among participants, aroused by three sources: (i) the circumstances of the loss; (ii) the institutional...

This qualitative study examines the impact of a personal encounter with perceived goodness, as represented by volunteers who are perceived as altruistic by those they help. It focuses on the encounter between at-risk street youths and lay volunteers in a mobile outreach service. The findings reveal that the street youths perceived the volunteers as...

This study is a phenomenological exploration of bereavement among a population of Israeli parents who became demonstratively activist following the death of their offspring either as soldiers in the line of duty or as victims of terrorism. It illuminates how an anger-forgiveness continuum gives a politically charged significance to the bereavement...

This is an exploratory study that examines factors in the process of adjustment and integration between Ethiopian immigrants and non-Ethiopian adolescents in Israel. The findings are that racism and discrimination, intergenerational conflicts and differences in communication systems pose significant difficulties for the integration of Ethiopian ado...

The experience of compulsive eating and recovery, as perceived by women members of the self-help organization Overeaters Anonymous (OA), was qualitatively studied by examining the worldview transformation of the members. A worldview transformation was found in four domains: (a) experience of self; (b) Universal Order/God; (c) relationships with oth...

The moral judgment of 114 male alcohol-other drug dependent persons in various stages of recovery was tested by Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT). Two hypotheses were tested: (a) the moral judgment of participants will be positively correlated with recovery variables such as sobriety period, holding a job, participation in NA, ending criminal behav...

Grace Therapy is a relatively new model for male batterers' group therapy, based on the 12-Step program. Grace Therapy attempts to address the marked suspicion of and resistance to treatment that most male batterers display, while offering several principles that work together to enhance the men's affiliation with the group—modularity, immediacy, g...

The high incidence of partner abuse among substance addicted men calls for a unified model of treatment. Grace Therapy is an approach for the treatment of male batterers based on the 12-Step Program of AA/NA. Clinical evidence relates the internal processes of male batterers and substance-addicted men to similar issues in which feelings of powerles...