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)
Publications for Making Good
Making Good – An Assessment of Work Undertaken by Thames Valley Partnership
Making Good Project Summary 2008
Making Good Conference – November 2008
This particular event examined and summarised the lessons learnt form this initiative, offered an opportunity to share knowledge and learning with practioners working in this field and looked also at current policy thinking on unpaid work.
A selection of the main presentations is offered here – for the final Assessment Report please see our Publications sections