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eal or apparent custodial sentence. But an offender may equally decline to perform
community service when the alternative custodial sentence is known to him in advance on
the grounds that the service to be performed is in some fashion disagreeable to him/her.
This aspect of consent was illustratedbyone judge in the studywhen he said:
“I had one fellow who asked me. He said the community service was against his religion. So, I
enquired what this was all about. It was cleaning toilets. With apologies to the ladies present, his
comment was that’s women’s work so I said that’s fine 3 months concurrent. I knowthat’ll change
his mindand he’s going to do it.” A1J4DC
Section4(2)(a), (b) and (c) of the 1983 Act are important as a reinforcement of the consent
aspect of the order where, assuming it is a District Court order, the alternative custodial
penalty is specified and known to the offender in advance. Moreover, the specific
requirements of compliance by the offender are required to be explained clearly by the
court. The adoption of this procedure ensures there is little room for ambiguityin what is
required of the offender to satisfactorily comply with the order. This may assist to some
extent, the function of the probation officer in his or her negotiated relationship with the
offender when dealing with absenteeism and other infractions by the client/offender in
completingthe order.
Section 4(2) is remarkable for another reason entirely. The like worded Section in the
Criminal Justice Act 1972 (England and Wales), Section 15(9)(a), (b) and (c) represents a
successful amendment made by Baroness Wootton in the House of Lords in the original
Criminal Justice Bill which proposed community service in that jurisdiction. In Section
4(2) (a), (b) and (c), whatever the protestations of the Minister for Justice when introducing
the Bill in the Dail on the origins of community service and the need to look to
international experience besides that of our neighbours in Britain and the Whitaker
Committee Report (1985), the direct hand of Baroness Wootton is manifest in the Irish
legislation. Undoubtedlythe procedure outlinedin Section 4 subsection (2) helps to clarify
for the offender the issue of consent and his relationship with the Court and the probation
officer as agent of the Court.
The Probation Service Administer Community Service
The task of administering the community service scheme was given by statute to the
Probation Service. In her study in 1990, Helena Jennings outlined the approach taken by
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