What is 'Community Service'

Rocker

One of the top Premier League footballers got a Court sentence of 100 hours unpaid Community Service.  What exactly does that mean?  Who decides what he has to do?  Can he pay someone to do the hours service for him?

AlexC

No - he has to go out into the 'community' and scrub graffiti off walls or some such. These tasks are decided by social worker types. It is all very beaurocratic and a bit pathetic. A sort of slap of on the wrist without any punishment. And it never seems to benefit any community either.

GoldenEraGuitars

100 hours of not being paid by the club would sting a little more than scrubbing graffiti off a wall. Or perhaps handing 100 hours of their wage to a charitable cause or medical research charity would be of more use?

EricTheWeary

Well, it hasn't been called Community Service for several years - it's  Community Payback or Unpaid Work - so a bit of lazy journalism there.  

These days it's run by Community Rehabilitation Companies which are the privatised part of what were Probation Trusts. I can't remember them all now but there are a lot of rules about how quickly it has to be done and it is enforced if it isn't ( the person is returned to court and can have more hours or be resentenced including to a prison sentence). 
What they do varies a bit depending on the number of hours, what projects are available and any potential risks. You can't pay someone else to do it for you ( that's very, very illegal). *

There have been a few footballers, this has included them spending their hours giving football instruction to underprivileged kids. That is controversial as it has been seen as a let off but as a useful use of their skills and giving something back to the community seems like a nice idea to me.  
Just for examples of more normal CP: one local project near were I live offenders on CP have restored buildings and grounds that are part of a city farm. When I was working in court I had one guy who had an individual CP placement helping in a day centre for people with mental health problems and he ended up loving it and started a new career as a carer. 

Recidivism rates for any form of sentencing are hard to prove( and varies according to type of offence and a few other factors - it's very complex). Best results tend to be from targeted cognitive behavioural interventions but they are relatively expensive ( although a lot cheaper than prison) so fallen out of favour with the private companies. CP is about on par with most other forms of sentence in terms of reducing reoffending and completion rates tend to be very good these days. It tends to be very popular with magistrates as they see it as fairly punitive and that the local community benefits. 
There might be a qualified Probation Officer involved somewhere but generally CP is managed by unqualified staff.


* some areas now use biometric reporting - so offenders clock in on their CP using their fingerprints. 

57Deluxe

it will no doubt involve tutoring impoverished kids with a ball... Not like when Boy George had to clean the streets on NYC a while back...

https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2624545.main_image.jpg?strip=all

Dominic

The hi-vis suits him ....his Dad was a builder...it's in the blood

starwarsnosebleed

Dominic said:

The hi-vis suits him ....his Dad was a builder...it's in the blood

Probably not the type of wheelbarrow ol' Georgie boy was hoping for.

Wazmeister

AlexC said:

No - he has to go out into the 'community' and scrub graffiti off walls or some such. These tasks are decided by social worker types. It is all very beaurocratic and a bit pathetic. A sort of slap of on the wrist without any punishment. And it never seems to benefit any community either.

Not true in my experience- as someone who went off the rails many years ago, and had to serve CS...

Giving up a day a week for 6/12 months, as well as working, is actually quite effective and takes its toll. We did lots of good community work.

It is def punishment for the offender, but naturally not as bad as jail time.

aord43

I think it's quite common for rich types because fining them is futile.  They would just pay it and not notice.

Sassafras

100 hours for a top footballer?
Who did he rape and murder?

fields5069

Community Service just means free labour for the council. No benefit to the community as far as I can see, I've seen clarts in Newport doing things like painting park railings.

FX_Munkee

lonestar said:

100 hours of not being paid by the club would sting a little more than scrubbing graffiti off a wall. Or perhaps handing 100 hours of their wage to a charitable cause or medical research charity would be of more use?

Everton have fined him 2 weeks wages, I expect they will donate that to charity.

Hope his community service is served in an area that needs help. If it's done on his home patch it will either be washing the cars at the Aston Martin garage or Restaurant reviewing.

AvalonAndy

octatonic

lonestar said:

100 hours of not being paid by the club would sting a little more than scrubbing graffiti off a wall. Or perhaps handing 100 hours of their wage to a charitable cause or medical research charity would be of more use?

They don't do this because it advantages the wealthy- they can just pay to basically have the punishment go away.
He already has more money than he can ever use so taking money away isn't a punishment in the way that picking up litter is.

In the past famous people would be allowed to do community outreach stuff- where they go into a school or something and talk about the dangers of whatever the fuck.
This was stopped as again it was seen as a wealth advantage.

AlexC

Wazmeister said:

AlexC said:

No - he has to go out into the 'community' and scrub graffiti off walls or some such. These tasks are decided by social worker types. It is all very beaurocratic and a bit pathetic. A sort of slap of on the wrist without any punishment. And it never seems to benefit any community either.

Not true in my experience- as someone who went off the rails many years ago, and had to serve CS...
Giving up a day a week for 6/12 months, as well as working, is actually quite effective and takes its toll. We did lots of good community work.

It is def punishment for the offender, but naturally not as bad as jail time.

If it does actually benefit the community than that's great. And I agree that jail is neither appropriate or needed for minor misdemeanours. 

Rocker

@AlexC driving a car when way over the drink driving limit is not a minor misdemeanor. It is one situation where a jail sentence is justified.

EricTheWeary

fields5069 said:

Community Service just means free labour for the council. No benefit to the community as far as I can see, I've seen clarts in Newport doing things like painting park railings.

They aren't allowed to do jobs that someone would normally get paid for ( especially council jobs). Whilst painting railings isn't exactly cutting edge stuff it is of some minor benefit to the community ( the railings look nicer than they did).  On www.walescrc.co.uk there's a page where you can nominate a project in your area. Some CRCs will have pictures of successful projects on their websites, although apparently not in Wales. 

The last Govt brought in the hi viz jackets with Community Payback written on them so it's a lot more visible now. But there's a lot who do CP without the jackets so you wouldn't be aware of them. Most areas will also have CP workshops were higher risk offenders can do projects that won't be visible ( maybe repairing park railings). There's a huge issue with gangs now in some areas, the hi viz jackets make CP projects so visible that gang members will basically cruise them looking for rival gang members so if someone is a known gang member they have to look at alternatives.  

EricTheWeary

Rocker said:

@AlexC driving a car when way over the drink driving limit is not a minor misdemeanor. It is one situation where a jail sentence is justified.

Wether it's justified is another matter but magistrates wouldn't even consider prison unless it was over three times the limit and/ or other aggravating factors. As well as Community Payback he will have had a substantial driving ban ( although the inconveniences and costs associated with that for most people probably not such a big issue for a premiership footballer). 

jonnyburgo

I believe they call it restorative justice.

AlexC

@Rocker I wasn't aware of the specifics of what he'd done. I tend to avoid news about footballers. But I agree with you that drunk driving puts other people in danger and isn't 'minor'. 

EricTheWeary

jonnyburgo said:

I believe they call it restorative justice.

In general terms maybe but in law/ sentencing terms that's a different thing.

I should shut up now but just to add my thanks to @Rocker that after four years on here somebody finally asked a question on a subject I know something about