Making Good – A Short History

The Making Good project , which commenced in 2005 was based on the notion that giving local people the means to choose Unpaid Work by offenders in their area is the best way to build public awareness about and confidence in community sentences.    The project was funded by the  Esmee Fairbairn Foundation as  a three year initiative called Making Good – Communities Engaging with Community Service.

The project was the result of the Rethinking Crime and Punishment (RCP) initiative of the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation that aimed to raise the level of debate about alternatives to the use of prison as a sentence. The Thames Valley Partnership piloted an approach in Reading involving offenders regenerating a run-down park (see the report).

The RCP final report, published in December 2004, made many recommendations.   The Making Good project  aimed to increase the confidence in the criminal justice system, and in particular community sentences, ie unpaid work.   The Partnership  also received funding to undertake research around  judicial engagement.

The project was piloted in four sites across Thames Valley (Slough, Milton Keynes, Wycombe and Bicester).    Making Good  worked with existing structures, where possible, to raise the awareness of the work done by offenders and encouraged communities to decide what this work should be.  This work was supported by the Thames Valley Probation.

Following completion of the initial project, a subsequent phase  saw the dissemination of the ideas and experiences to a wider audience via an event in 2010 (see Justice Seen, Justice Done)