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(a) the revocation of anylicence,
(b) the imposition of anydisqualification or endorsement,
(c) the forfeiture, confiscation, seizure, restitution or disposal of any
property, or
(d) the payment of compensation, costs or expenses.
For further ease of reference it is appropriate that section 115 is set out in full at this point to
elucidate the position of communityservice orders as a communitysanction. Section 115
of the Children Act, 2001 provides:
Section 115.- In this part, “Communitysanction” means anyof the orders referred to in
paragraphs (a) to (j) which maybe made bya court on beingsatisfiedthat a childis guilty
of an offence-
(a) in the case of a child of 16 or 17 years of age, a community service order
under section 3 of the Act of 1983,
(b) an order under section118 (a daycentre order),
(c) an order under section2 of the Act of 1907 (a probation order),
(d) an order under section124 (a probation (training or activities) order),
(e) an order under section125 ( a probation (intensive supervision) order),
(f) an order under section126 (a probation (residential supervision) order),
(g) an order under section129 (a suitable person (care and supervision) order),
(h) an order under section131 (a mentor (familysupport)order),
(i) an order under section133 ( a restriction on movement order), or
(j) an order under section137 (a dual order).
The use of a communityservice order for fine default under section 110(1)(b)(iii), although in
one sense substitutingcommunityservice for a periodof detention, which is prohibited
under the Act in respect of the non-payment of fines (section 110(1)(a)), maynowallowa
court to impose a communityservice order without ever havingcontemplated a custodial
sanction pursuant to section 2 of the 1983 Act.
But perhaps the most strikingpolicydeparture is containedin section 115 which empowers a
court, exercisingcriminal jurisdiction over children, to impose a communitysanction
includinga communityservice order, in respect of sixteen or seventeen year olds without
reference to anyrestriction containedin section 2 of the 1983 Act. As we shall see, the
primaryrationale for introducingcommunityservice orders in 1983 has been dethroned, as
it applies to sixteen and seventeen year olds. No longer is the use of communityservice
orders for sixteen andseventeen year olds to be contemplatedas a decarcerative penalty
but, as in manyother jurisdictions andin particular in EnglandandWales, community
service orders can nowseeminglybe imposedas penalties for offences which would
otherwise attract onlya fine or probation.
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