Would giving people lots of community service be better than sending them to jail?

If we did that alot of money would be saved from having less people in prison and jobs could get done free of charge. I had to do community service before and it was painting up a community centre over weekends.

Last time I got sent to prison, lost my job and probably ended up costing loads of money. Instead of 6 months in prison I could have done something useful over the weekends. Seems like it would have been a better system.

Would giving people lots of community service be better than sending them to jail?celebrity myspace

Yes.

Would giving people lots of community service be better than sending them to jail?myspace quizzes myspace.com

I want criminals in jail-not sweeping my street in broad daylight.
That would depend entirely on the crime committed. Murderers, rapists - anyone who did something really bad to someone else, belong away from society.
As long as their crime is minimal and they won't take it on the lam, why not? Our prisons are over crowded anyway.
I agree - I think the american system of chain gangs ought to be brought in.... prison with chain gangs even - I like the sherriff who feeds his on 30 cents a day, %26amp; makes them live in tents
Build more prisons, lock them up for a long time and make the prisons a place where they won't want to go back to no tv, no video games, basic food, make it mean PRISON not a holiday camp
For minor crimes I agree. For the more serious crimes lets make prisons more like prisons rather than five star hotels. Make inmate appreciate the outside rather than committing crimes because their had it better inside.
i would rather they be in prison..and they could do useful things there ..like being human guinea pigs ..for cosmetics %26amp; medicines
Of course..for .misdemeanors,man..interaction is better with 'normal' people for a time you can be respected and given stuff to do that might interest you is good..you know it's sh*t,but it can be more than you expect..Learning Is Fun,Motherfu*ckers! (Exchange of skills and ideas can't be bad.)
community service ,and jaill have no comparison whatsoever.

jail is a punishment.

community service is a complete waste of time.

imagine giving a rapist, or mugger community service in an old ladies back garden,and leaving them with her alone to do some gardening.

imagine them in prison being left in therapy group with some prick who believes in unconditional postive regard,or on the landings walkingh around as though they have landed,and have made stardom.

who are you? hello!!!!!!!!!!

dont you understand the people who rule this country have not made any success with any kind of criminal,as far as rehabilitation is concerned.

we are being ruled by business people who lie to us,and are so dishonest about what they dont say.

i am sure you meen well,and are asking questions for the right reasons.

what if you were told the truth,do you think thuis goverment would listen to me?

no
i agree, if it were a minor offence you colud give them comunity service, however if they are a true danger to society than it would be dangerous. if they have nothing to loose i have one thing to say to you "FLIGHT RISK"!!! nobody wants a convicted fellon, rapist, and mass murderer running around suburban littletown, Mass, now do you?
Unfortunately, community service is seen as 'getting away with it' to a degree. It doesn't teach much of a lesson really, does it?

You said it yourself, LAST TIME you got sent to prison. Evidently, community service wasn't much use to you, you don't seem to have learned from it. Do you think you found prison more of a deterrent?
Maybe you should stop breaking the law, ********. That way you wouldn't go to prison or do community service.
How many people actually given community service actually do that?

And how many violent offenders would do something terrible to the community if give just community service.

Maybe if the crime wasn't really one against people - a drug offense (unless it's a multiple - then they need time in jail to detox and maybe figure out it's not worth it).
It would be a way better system.
Its makes no difference...you would enjoy yourselves no matter what you were given , this would not be punishment for you.....It would be making a mockery out of the prison system.........I agree It could possible save money but whats the solution.......The way the prisons are at the moment who knows what the solution is.......I couldn't say.......
Yes community orders for non violent offences up to the maximum of 300 hours depending on the gravity of the offence.

For violent offences from 10 years up to life imprisonment which would mean natural life, too many of these people have been let out on licence only to commit rape or murder again.

When will the government listen to the people?
ive done two stretches, prison doesnt work, and it costs the taxpayer more than the NHS... prison has become a knee jerk reaction to a public perception that crime and criminals abound... when in reality the fear of crime is far greater than the actual occurence.

community service of any kind would be a bonus, in fact anything that retains a semblance of liberty is regarded as a major plus.

theres lots of work needs doing in communities, in our city centres and many hospitals...

chain gangs.. well this isnt the deep south, and if your doing your community service, well youre hardly likely to do a runner...

unfortunately the namby pamby middle classes only consider the appropriate sentence to be one of incarceration.. and as the senior judge mentioned, with our policy of banging up murderers for life, (30yrs) then pretty soon our prisons will be like geriatric holding units...

and whats that going to do to the cost of the system then?
Prison means depriving a person of their liberty. A community service sentence only deprives a person of a small portion of their liberty, so that person has access to family and society, to drink and drugs, often in disproportion to their victims. A person on community service still eats what he wants, goes where he wants, lives as he wants, and behaves as he wants, except for a few hours per week.

There are sectors of society where criminal behaviour is not just tolerated - it is applauded. Witness the huge crowds that turned out for the funeral of one of the Kray brothers in the East End of London. A perverse 'Robin Hood' attitude applies with these people - 'they did not nick from us and ours, they only robbed the rich'. Rich or poor, the reaction that the average citizen will evince to having a gun pulled on him, or being confronted with knives, coshes or knuckledusters, or having burning paper thrust through their letterbox, or turds left on their doorstep, is not a reaction that will maintain tranquillity of the person or of thought. I know people who have had to sell up their beloved home and move because they have been burgled - the violation of one's home, the seat of security and peace in a world that is brutal, is tantamount to the violation of one's intimate body; i.e. rape!

I work in an English Criminal Court. I see people emerging from the courtroom triumphant that they have secured a community penalty. I then see the same people back a few weeks later, having both breached their order (not attended for their community service) and also having committed further crimes, similar to those for which they have already ben arraigned, and often against the same victims of the original offences.

The fear and misery of these victims, and I see at least two trials per day, has to be witnessed to be appreciated. Witnesses have to be escorted in to the courtroom by Witness Support, and robust individuals; often ex-wrestlers such as myself, have to be employed by the Courts to ensure that these witnesses feel reasonably safe.

I have served in HM Forces and have seen some grisly sights, but in war or terrorism, the participants are volunteers. In crime, the criminal is the volunteer and the victim is easy meat.

The victims of crime are not concerned with saving money. Getting the convict off the streets and away from society is perhaps the better aim. The answer is to build more prisons, increase the length of sentences, ensure that prisoners get their human rights by single occupancy of cells (prevents voluntary or forced buggery), feed them good food ( I keep my wife and myself in food on 锟?0 pw, and we eat duck) - so a crim can be kept on a lot less than that, especially if trustees do the cooking.

I have no interest whatsoever that you lost your job, and I will willingly pay for your extended incarceration. You have not shown any contrition for your crimes. About an hour ago, I saluted an ex-con who has demonstrated some will to get a job and rehabilitate himself. You seem to only be interested in your own position, and sod everyone else. As far as I am concerned, the lot on you.
nope. bang em up by the dozen. throw away the key, never let em out. the society is in the mess its in because we being soft and letting them out. time to fight fire with fire. time to follow through. back up the law. leave no place for the criminals to go. eliminate every~last~one
Yes, for non violent crimes.
community service does not work. My nephew is on it at the moment he comes home bragging he knows how to break in here there and every where. Thats all that happens loads of scallies get together and discuss crime and easy ways to do it.
But there's always another way of looking at it. A short prison sentence can act as a deterrent against committing another offence.

Community service achieves nothing except act as a focus every time someone commits a crime while on bail or community service.

They have a saying in prison; "If you can't do the time then don't do the crime."

Not that the current, 'Lets not upset the prisoners' regime that operates in prisons nowadays is much of a deterrent.

Perhaps there's a case for capital and corporal punishment, after all.
Great idea if you could guarantee that they would turn up to do their service.

In my experience they often don't.

At least in jail they are under some sort of control.

Maybe chain gangs are the way forward or maybe tented city's behind fences instead of indoor cells with Sky TV!

I do however give you credit for actually bothering to make a difference to the community
For minor crimes yes.
Neither. What is needed is seriously harsh punishment. To be made to repay and compensate for the costs they have inflicted on their victims and taxpayers. I know of one person who was still paying off for two cars he wrote off when he was 20 in 1959 still paying when he was 48. Never been in trouble since.
Community service is a joke. Why shouldnt criminals be sent to prison??? If you dont want to go to prison and lose your job then stay on the right side of the law.

What about the victims of your crime?? Who is taking their feelings etc into consideration while you are sticking two fingers up at the law - cos really, if you do community service its like your getting off scot free.

What needs to happen is bigger fines, sentences that suit the crime and for this country to toughen up on the criminals instead of the victims.
Would prefer jail rather than being able to break the law and go home to family/friends every night.

Listen you have served your time show that you have grown up and learnt the error of you ways and improve your life instead of constantly going on about how harsh it is for you
How lovely to have been found guilty of doing wrong and being asked to do a spot of some job which you feel is use full. How about being punished for what you did wrong and then when you get out of prison having to some community service to show you can be trusted to make the right choice next time you are faced with a potentially law breaking situation.

Stop believing the world owes you a living and get on with it like the law abiding majority.
That depends on the person who has done wrong. Are they safe to release in to society? If the answer is yes then perhaps a community sentence could be appropriate but only if they are a first time offender. If they have offended and had a community sentence before it clearly doesn't teach them a lesson so in that case they should go to goal to moderate their behaviour.