Unemployed offenders face tougher work in the community

Plans to step up community penalties as an alternative to prison could include the possibility of hard manual labour

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
The Guardian, Wednesday 24 August 2011

Unemployed offenders face a full week of unpaid work, including the possibility hard manual labour, under plans to toughen community penalties as an alternative to prison.

Instructions will be issued to courts by the Ministry of Justice, urging them to make sure unemployed offenders sentenced to the "community payback" programme work a minimum of 28 hours over a four-day week. They will spend the fifth day looking for work or face losing their jobseekers' allowance.

The department had previously said that community payback schemes, previously known as community service, could be spread over 12 months, with some offenders doing as little as six hours a week unpaid work.

The more intensive scheme will also require offenders to start work within seven days of sentencing instead of the two weeks it currently takes following a court appearance. More than 100,000 offenders are given community sentences across England and Wales each year, with more than 8.8m hours of unpaid work completed annually. The scheme is run by the probation service and the public can nominate jobs to be undertaken by offenders.

A ministry spokesman said the work usually included improving public areas by picking up litter, cleaning graffiti, and maintaining parks and green spaces. But offenders can also be required to undertake hard labour such as working on a community farm.

Under the 2003 Criminal Justice Act, those who have responsibility for children or other dependents are exempt from the 28 hours a week requirement.

To read more, follow the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/aug/24/unemployed-offenders-tougher-work-community