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Participation byan offender on communityservice affirms his consent but the offender as
such is not in control of the type of work he/she may perform. The opportunity to instil
an element of close social modelling into a community service scheme is inhibited to the
extent that the scheme may present as boring, meaningless and disconnected with the
offender’s experiences. This is particularly so in relation to large scale environmental
projects. On the other handan offender who is imprisonedis subjected to a regime which
objectifies him and negates his consent by the physical confinement of the prison. In a
survey of sentencers in Scotland one Sheriff put it thus: ‘from my point of view I am
looking for the offender to glimpse his own dignity and for the community to say that it
was fitting; that is the ideal’ (Carnie 1990:30). Community service schemes which
harness the offenders’ strengths and potential must be seen in this context as providing a
superior opportunity in the reintegration of the offender. A well designed placement
might also have a positive impact on completion rates and upon the offender’s attitudes
andbehaviour (McIvor 1990).
In this study one Judge questioned whether there was any real benefit by way of changed
behaviour to be achieved from community service. In particular he referred to the
benefits which are otherwise missed by not placing the offender on a training course but
rather engaging the offender in projects which maybe poorlyorganisedandimpersonal:
“It doesn’t fulfil the role that a course of training would. It’s also usuallyveryunskilled. We heard a
case where a man was suing for personal injuryacquired while he was doing communityservice and
the general impression I got from both sides was that the whole thing was rather chaotic. ... I don’t
know whether they benefit greatly from cleaning up cemeteries or sweeping up the yards of old
people’s homes …” A8J1SC.
The arrival of the communityservice order in England and Wales in the 1970s occurred at
a time of significant change in both social outlook and values. A new sanction which
would keep certain offenders out of the prison system, while still making demands of the
offender, presented as an attractive alternative. But such was the optimism of the age that
additional advantages were claimed for the new sanction. In particular, the prison system
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