'Giving back' by 'paying back': recasting community payback as 'mutual restitution' through financial payback - making a restorative criminal justice system a reality through co-operatives and values-based purposeful companies?
| Author | Dave Nicholson |
| Position | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Pages | 79-91 |
79
British Journal of Community Justice
©2021 Manchester Metropolitan University
ISSN 1475-0279
Vol. 17(1) 79 - 91
‘GIVING BACK’ BY ‘PAYING BACK’: RECASTING COMMUNITY
PAYBACK AS ‘MUTUAL RESTITUTION’ THROUGH FINANCIAL
PAYBACK - MAKING A RESTORATIVE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM A
REALITY THROUGH CO-OPERATIVES AND VALUES-BASED
PURPOSEFUL COMPANIES?
Dave Nicholson, Manchester Metropolitan University. Contact details: David.Nicholson@stu.mmu.ac.uk
Abstract
‘Giving back’ is both a central tenet of restorative justice and a key element in desistance. In this historical review
and think piece I argue that giving back financially – financial payback - is not only the oldest form of restorative
justice but al so a way of making a desistance-enabling restorative criminal justice system a reality today. But
neither restorative justice nor desistance can ever be achieved if the offender is unable to make the financial
payback required. I argue that widening the scope of existing Community Payback arrangements to include
unpaid work with co-operatives and values-based ‘purposeful’ employers would provide both a means of making
financial payback, as well as a progression route i nto desistance-supporting paid employment. The monetary
value of the offender’s unpaid work would be paid by the host employer as a charitable donation to victims’ or
other appropriate charities to fulfil the community benefit required by Community Payback. On successful
completion of the unpaid work, progression into paid wor k would then be made available to the offender. In
this way the offender’s unpaid work effectively acts as a work trial as well as a Community Payback placement.
This ‘mutual restitution’ would see the community, in the form of the host employer, enabling offenders to make
financial pay back as well as providing access to the sort of desistance-enabling employment opportunities from
which many for most of their lives have been excluded. Running such a scheme with cooperatives aligns with
the co-operative sector’s concern for community, one of the key principles of the cooperative identity1. But i t
would work equally well with those public or private sector values-based ‘purposeful’ employers committed to
creating long-term value through serving the needs of society2. Building on contemporary developments in the
co-operative sector and private sector initiatives to embed purpose into the heart of business, I argue that
existing Community Payback practice together with the recommendations of the 2008 Scottish Prisons
Commission can all be combined to create a system of ‘mutual restitution’ providing a practical and realistic way
of making a desistance-supporting restorative criminal justice system a reality through financial payback.
Key words
Restorative Justice; Mutual Restitution; Community Payback; Financial Payback; Co-operatives; Purposeful
Companies.
Article
‘If someone robs me, I want my money back; plus a bit of compensation for the pain and
inconvenience caused. What I don’t want is to pay thousands of pounds to keep them in prison.
That way I pay for their crime instead of them. They should just pay me back and give me some
compensation and that’d teach them not to do it again (Jay, Ex-Cell Justice Solutions)’3.
1 ‘Concern for Community’ is Principle 7 of the International Cooperative Alliance’s Statement on the Cooperative Identity
https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity
2 The Purposeful Company (TPC) Task Force was established in 2015 with the support of the Bank of England to transform
British business with purposeful companies committed to creating long-term value through serving the needs of society
https://thepurposefulcompany.org/
3 Quoted in Nicholson, D. (2019) ‘Putting the community back into payback’ In Fox, A. & Frater, A. (Eds) Crime and
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