Mandated Community Service is in all Youth Justice Programs. Mandated Community Service – Requires the youthful offender to help the community. – The youth volunteers in the program deliberate and required the youthful offender to complete community service hours for their crime, offense and/or violation. – Community service agencies are often utilized to help oversee completion of community service obligations and/or a program may operate their own program or a combination of both. – Strive to make the mandated community service meaningful to the youthful offender and the community.

Some Say Mandated Community Service…. Serves a broad array of sentencing needs: – Reduce fines or shorten period of probation – Match community service to offense (e.g., False 911 called complete community service with Emergency Medical Services) Serves both the offender and community – No teaching or learning – Nothing more than punishment Has value as a rehabilitative sanction – Provides an opportunity to give back.

Does Mandated Community Service…. Facilitate Rehabilitation? – Difficult to imagine a connection between community service and rehabilitation. Reduce Recidivism? – No direct evidence to make this claim. Contribute to Balanced and Restorative Justice? – This appears to be the place that community service makes the most sense.

Community Service Is An Essential Component of Balanced and Restorative Justice Balanced and Restorative Justice – Community service is strongly associated with the accountability goal of balanced and restorative justice. – Accountability – when an offense is committed a harm is incurred and an obligation to repair that harm is also incurred. – Community Service is an effective way for offenders to address that obligation.

An Educational Perspective: Community Service Learning Community Service Learning (CSL) – Links skills and knowledge gained in school to community. – Students learn through: Active participation in thoughtfully organized service Connections with other schools / communities Fosters civic responsibility Enhances curricula Allows students to reflect National and Community Service Trust Act, 1993

Benefits Community Service Learning Benefits Include: – Develop critical thinking and problem solving skills – Gain a better understanding of how to make a constructive change – Form meaningful relationships with others – Develop a deeper understanding of community problems – Gain a sense of individual effectiveness – Recognize need for involvement

Benefits Mandated Community Service Benefits Include: – Develop critical thinking and problem solving skills – Gain a better understanding of how to make a constructive change – Form meaningful relationships with others – Develop a deeper understanding of community problems – Gain a sense of individual effectiveness – Recognize need for involvement The Same Benefits as Community Service Learning

Community Service Helps Achieve Balanced and Restorative Justice Objectives Accountability - Victim focused activity – Repair harm to community – Address individual culpability Community Protection – Community safety focused activity – Structured, positive activity with positive role model Competency Development – Skill Building activity – Punctuality, work skills, cooperation, taking direction, task-related skills (e.g., carpentry, book binding, painting)

Mandated Community Service and At-Risk and High-Risk Juveniles Targeted Benefits – Promotes individual accountability for offenders – Provides at-risk youth opportunities to connect with community, adult role models, and positive peers – Creates a tangible record of meaningful and positive accomplishments – Improves community well being – Helps develop skills – social skills, job skills, academic skills

Good Community Service Versus Bad Community Service Good Community Service….. – Meaningful to the victim – High level of community involvement – Public acknowledgement of service by the community – An opportunity for offender to reflect on harm and on reparation – Skill development opportunities

Good Community Service Versus Bad Community Service Bad Community Service Programs Not related to originating offense, victim, or community – Punitive – Demeaning – Pointless - not valued by victim, community, or juvenile.

Examples Good Community Service Provide meaningful work service projects for youth offenders. Enable them to provide restitution to victims. Guide them to establish bonds between themselves and the community. Provide a service learning experience. Integrates critical thinking and civic responsibility. Place them back into their communities.

Examples Good Community Service (A Program in Oregon – one Example) – 7,988 Community Service Hours Ordered in 2004 – 7,176 Hours (90%) Community Service Completed – 83% of cases with community service completed all community service obligations. – Oversight and tracking takes place frequently. – Youth Justice staff are involved in some group/individual projects.

Examples Good Community Service – Participation in community service helps youth learn marketable skills: Construction, Carpentry, Home repair, Office Skills, Gardening – Impacts community significantly Recycle 5 million pounds of materials annually Grow and deliver more than a ton of fresh produce to needy families Renovate homes through habitat for humanity Provide painting, construction, and clean-up to roads and trails.

Examples Good Community Service – Juvenile Court Community Service at Food Bank – Juveniles volunteer at the food bank to disseminate baskets of food, stock shelves, and helping needy persons shop. – Juveniles give back, make connections with community, work with positive role models, learn job skills.

Steps to Developing and Implementing Effective Community Service Mission – Include Mandate for Community Service Judges, Administrators, Staff – Committed to Community Service Agency Operations – Community Service Integral to Policies, Procedures Victims – Should be On Board Community – Partnerships at Neighborhood and Individual Levels Group Projects / Resources – Creative, meaningful, productive, valued Outcomes – Measure, Report, Celebrate, Improve

Case Closing Comparisons Example of a chart programs can complete

Global Youth Justice encourages local programs to make effort to offer higher quality mandated community service projects for the youthful offenders sentenced by their peers in local youth courts, student court, teen courts, peer courts, and youth peer panels. Consider age, group projects, educational classes that relate to work projects. Review the Giving Back Book on GYJ Website