Community Service National Standards: Practice and Sentencing
| Published date | 01 September 1989 |
| Date | 01 September 1989 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058903600310 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
121
Community
Service
National
Standards:
Practice
and
Sentencing
Bill
McWilliams
of
the
Cambridge
Institute
of
Criminology
considers
the
implications
of
the
new
standards
both
for
practice
and
for
the
Service’s
relationship
with
courts,
in
the
context
of the
purpose
of
Community
Service
and
identifies
the
problems
which
can
arise
from
a
tougher,
high
tech
approach.
ine
years
ago
Ken
Peasellnd
I
publish-
ed
Community
Service
by
Order
in
which
we
pointed
out
that
from
its
in-
ception
multiple
theories
had
been
used
either
singly
or
in
combination
to
justify
the
order:
punishment,
repar-
ation,
expiation,
reformation
and
rehabilitation
had
all
been
brought
_
into
play.
We
then
outlined,
in
cameo
form,
a
number
of
possible,
but
un-
desirable,
futures
for
community
ser-
vice
which
could
arise
because
of
that
conceptual
confusion
(bureaucratis-
ation,
probationisation,
and
penalis-
ation),
and
we
corltrasted
those
with
the
desirable
future
direction
which
we
called
standardisatton.
In
our
cameo
of
standardised
community
service
the
first
element
was
that
it
should
be
agreed
that
retribution
is
the
proper
function
of
the
community
service
order,
with
hours
calculated
in
proportion
to
culpability
and
not
in
proportion
to
of-
fenders’
needs
for
particular
ex-
periences.
In
the
new
national
stan-
dards
this
punitive
purpose
is
given
pride
of
place,
Henceforth,
we
may
understand,
community
service
is
to
be
a
punish-
ment
in
the
community-
A
deliberately
punitive
role
might
be
seen
as
outwith
the
philosophy
of
the
English
proba-
tion
system,
and
I
will
return
to
that
issue
at
the
end.
First,
it
will
be
worth
considering
some
aspects
of
practice
and
some
of
the
implications
of
the
new
standards
for
relationships
with
the
criminal
courts.
New Standards in
Practice
The
aspects
of
practice
to
be
con-
sidered
are:
enforcement;
help for
of-
fenders
(which
I
see
as
being
indirectly
related
t6
enforcement);
and
outcame.
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