Richard Good
Director of the Turnaround Project
TEDx Talk Title - 'History, hope and opportunity – a society challenge'
Everyone loves a TV crime drama. It starts with a crime, and ends 55 minutes later with us seeing someone found guilty and on their way to serve their sentence. It couldn’t be simpler. Is there much difference between the way we consume those TV dramas, and the way we think about the actual criminal justice system in our societies? We hear of crimes committed, of someone being caught, convicted and sentenced, and into the justice system they go. Case closed. Justice done. The perpetrator has been made to take responsibility for their actions. My talk will encourage people to think beyond that timeframe, about the pathways that lead the overwhelming majority of people into the justice system, and the barriers that they encounter on their journeys back out of it. I will point to the part that society’s inactions play in those journeys. And I will present a challenge – if we send people into the justice system to take responsibility for their action, then as a society shouldn’t we take responsibility for lowering the barriers that they encounter on their way back out of it. And, drawing on my experience of The Turnaround Project’s journey to date, I will paint a picture of an emerging movement of people – some of whom have served sentences and some of whom have not, who are rising to that challenge; coming together to find new ways of lowering barriers for people.
About the Speaker
Richard Good has worked for over twenty years in politics, public affairs and public service in Northern Ireland, in both partisan and non-partisan roles. He worked for five years (1994-1999) as a senior staff member of Northern Ireland’s cross-community Alliance Party, for eight years (2002-2010) as Adviser to the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and for six years (2010-2016) as Special Adviser to Northern Ireland’s Minister of Justice. These periods covered many of the most significant stages of the development of the political and peace process in Northern Ireland, and the establishment of the power-sharing political institutions.
These experiences have required him to work across the political spectrum within Northern Ireland, and with politicians and officials in Britain and Ireland, and allowed him to develop a broad range of skills and experiences that he now seeks to apply in other settings.
Richard has also served in a range of other roles and organisations, and is currently a member of a Commission established by the Northern Ireland Executive to identify a fresh approach to dealing with the complexities of flags, identity, culture and tradition in the context of a divided community.
He is also the founder and Director of the Turnaround Project, which aims to encourage and facilitate existing and start-up enterprises which will employ people for a period before and after they leave prison, thereby addressing the barriers to employment experienced by people returning to live in the community.
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