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In addition to the general, social and political enquiry which gives context to the emergent
penalty, the chapter examines in detail the factors andpathways which allowed the sanction
to become manifest at this particular time. The emergence of any new penal sanction
should always be scrutinised to ascertain whether the newsanction is merely an additional
sentencing option in the sentencer’s armouryto be selected from a menu of dispositions or
whether the new sanction serves a specific purpose either in relation to custodial
punishment, crime prevention, the rehabilitation of the offender, the prediction and
curtailment of risk or some other function.
This chapter will discuss in detail the emergence, rationales and function of the non-
custodial penalty of community service. As already stated this sanction is identified as
central to any consideration of alternatives to custody, coupled as it is to the direct
imposition of a custodial penaltyif the penaltyis breached. It is hypothesised in this study
that the use of community based penalties and in particular the penalty of community
service is underutilised by the Irish Courts in the disposal of criminal convictions, despite
significant reports which suggest that imprisonment should be the sanction of last resort.
(Whitaker:1985; LawReformCommission :1993, 1996).
A. GENESIS OF AN IDEA
Community service orders were first introduced in Ireland under the Criminal Justice
(Community Service) Act 1983. The precise antecedents of the penalty of community
service in Ireland are disputed. For however much the search for the proximate as
opposed to the historical roots of community service are contested, the Criminal Justice
(Community Service) Act 1983 as enacted by the Oireachtas resembles almost verbatim,
except for a fewnotable exceptions which will be discussed later, the legislation introduced
in England and Wales in 1972 under the Criminal Justice Act of that year which was largely
consolidated and superseded by the Powers of Criminal Courts Act of 1973 as amended
bySection 12 of the Criminal LawAct of 1977. The legislation enacted bythe Oireachtas
in 1983 was so close to the legislation in Englandand Wales, that DeputyKellyremarked:
“This is simply one more example of the ignominious parade of legislation
masquerading under an Irish title ‘An Bille un Cheartas Coiriuil (Serighis Pobail)
1983’; which is a British legislative idea taken over here and given a green outfit with
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