Use of Community Service in New Zealand*

Date01 June 1985
AuthorJulie Leibrich
DOI10.1177/000486588501800204
Published date01 June 1985
Subject MatterOriginal Article
AUST
&NZ
JOURNAL
OF CRIMINOLOGY (June 1985) 18 (85-94)
USE OF COMMUNITY SERVICE IN NEW ZEALAND*
Julie Leibrich**
85
Abstract
1534 people who received acommunity service sentence during 1981
and
1982
were studied. Almost
one
in three of the people sentenced to community service
were women, although only one in seven offenders are women. More Maoris (41%)
were sentenced to community service than would be expected given that 33%1 of
offenders are Maori. People given this sentence were mainly young, with over half
of them (58%) under 25 and less than 10% over 40. Most people (91%) had pleaded
guilty at the court apearance in which they received community service and most
(78%) had
been
represented in court. Over half the offences (55%) for which
people were sentenced to community service were property offences, with traffic
offences, (27%) the second most common group.
The
community service group
had
been convicted of the more serious offences amongst a police classified offence list.
The
average sentence length was 89 hours, with approximately aquarter of the
group (24%) being given over 100 hours of community service.
An
additional
sentence of probation, disqualification or fine was given to just over half (52%) of
the group.
Introduction
The
aim of this study was to provide some basic information about people
sentenced to community service in New Zealand; their offences, the length of
sentence given, and the use of additional sentences. Descriptions of how the
sentence is working and the offenders' criminal histories and reconviction
behaviour is given elsewhere. (Leibrich et al, 1984)
The
community service sentence was introduced on 1 February 1981 by the
Criminal Justice Amendment Act 1980. Community service of
not
less
than
eight
and not more than 200 hours may be imposed on any person convicted of an offence
punishable by imprisonment, provided certain conditions are met.
The
sentence
must be appropriate given the offender's character, personal history, and any
other
relevant circumstances.
The
offender must understand the purpose and effect of the
sentence and consent to its imposition; and suitable service must be available.
The
sentence is administered by the Probation Division of the
Department
of Justice in
each of its 35 probation districts. In 1981, 1772 community service sentences were
imposed, in 1982, 1991 and in 1983, 2338.
Method
Sample
The
population studied was any person who received acommunity service
sentence during the first 21 months of its use - from 1 February 1981 to 31 October
1982. A one in two random sample (N =1534) was drawn from this population.
*The author gratefully acknowledges the help of Bryony Walker, Clare Salmond and Prue Oxley with
this study.
** PhD, MA (Hons) BA (Hons), Senior Research Officer, Department of Justice, Wellington, New
Zealand

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