ABSTRACT
‘Community service’ has been in operation for many years and is considered by some to offer many possibilities, both of punishment and in terms of rehabilitation:
Community service had great potential: it soon became popular with courts in that it provided elements of punishment and of reparation: that it satisfied various elements in the community, notably those who gained benefit from work undertaken; that of requiring offenders to give up leisure time rather than be wholly deprived of their liberty. (Cartledge 1986: 15)
Community service can be viewed in different ways, depending upon the legal framework it forms part of: as an alternative to imprisonment under the criminal law; as a special educational tool; as a rehabilitative measure; and as a keystone in a system of restorative justice (Walgrave 1999: 9). And it certainly does seem to be the preferred response to offending when the judiciary resorts to restorative justice processes (Schiff 1999: 327).