View/Open - CORA - University College Cork

adical proposal by the Wootton Committee is testimony to the wide-spread acceptability
of the measure combined with an unquestioning optimism which may in fact have
reflected the spirit of the age as well as a sense of desperation with the intractable problem
of crime and what to do about it. This new measure was introduced on the cusp of
significant changes where the understanding of crime as a solvable problem in the period
of penal welfarism (Garland2001) was substitutedbythe advent of the ascendant viewthat
the problem of crime was not solvable and would endure as a normative feature of late
modern society(Garland 2001; Kilcommins, 2002).
E. THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMMUNITY SERVICE
The appeal of community service to adherents of different varieties of penal philosophies
was statedthus bythe Wootton Committee:
To some, it wouldbe simplya more constructive and cheaper alternative to shorter
sentences of imprisonment; byothers it wouldbe seen as introducing into the penal
systema newdimension with an emphasis on reparation to the community; others
again wouldregard it as a means of givingeffect to the oldadage that the punishment
should fit the crime; while still others would stress the value of bringingoffenders into
close touch with those members of the communitywho are most in needof help and
support. (Ibid.:para. 33)
This multi-adaptable penalty had, it is claimed, the ability to meet the sentencers
requirements of punishment, reparation, reintegration and rehabilitation all at once if
necessary or in varying degrees depending on the offender or the offence. This
chameleon-like aspect of community service (Hood 1974) would become a cause of
Section 16
1) An Offender in respect of whoma communityservice order is in force shall-
2)
(a)
report to the relevant officer andsubsequentlyfromtime to time notifyhimof anychange of address; and
(b) perform for the number of hours specified in the order such work at such times as he may be instructed by the relevant
officer.
Subject to section 18 of this Act, the work required to be performed under a communityservice order shall be performed during the period of twelve
months beginningwith the date of the order.
51