ABSTRACT
This chapter examines various issues surrounding the use of community sentences for juvenile and adult offenders. Issues such as the rationale for community sentences and the effectiveness of these sentences for offenders will be discussed. Broadly speaking, there are two main types of community sentence in Hong Kong, namely the probation order and community service order.1 In contrast to other non-custodial sentences such as fines, disqualification, and compensation, these two specific community sentences involve both an element of active participation by the offender and close supervision or monitoring by a designated authority figure from the State. The intended goal of the community sentence is to ‘help offenders reintegrate into the community as law-abiding citizens’ through counselling, proper supervision, and social skills training (Director of Social Welfare 2007).
