Offenders sentenced to a community order serve their whole sentence in the community rather than prison.  But they could be sent to prison if they do not comply with the order.

 

A community order is made up of one or more of the following requirements.  These are decided by the court:

 

  • Supervision.  The offender must attend regular appointments with a Probation Officer.

 

  • Community Payback.  Formerly known as community service or unpaid work, this involves carrying out between 80 and 300 hours of unpaid work for the community.  This can be, for example, painting and decorating, gardening, environmental clean-up projects, work with charities or graffiti removal. Find out more about Community Payback.

 

  • Offending Behaviour Programme.  The offender must attend a group or one-to-one programme designed to address attitudes and patterns of behaviour that lead to offending, such as programmes for drink-drivers, sex offenders or those who misuse drugs. Find out more about Offending Behaviour Programmes.

 

  • Curfew. The offender must stay indoors for certain periods at a specified place, usually their own home, for up to six months.  Electronic monitoring, known as “tagging” is commonly used to enforce the curfew.

 

  • Drug rehabilitation.  The offender must have treatment to reduce or eliminate dependency on or tendency to misuse drugs, and provide samples when asked.  The offender must consent to the order.

 

  • Alcohol treatment.  The offender must attend treatment to reduce or eliminate dependency on alcohol. The offender must consent to the order.

 

  • Mental health treatment.  The court must be satisfied that the offender’s mental condition requires treatment.  The offender must consent to the treatment.

 

  • Residence.  The offender must reside at a specified place.  This may be Approved Premises managed by the Probation Service.  Find out more about Approved Premises.
  • Exclusion (usually with electronic monitoring).  The offender may not enter a specified place for a period of time.

 

  • Attendance centre (for 18 – 24 year olds).  The offender must attend a centre for between 12 and 36 hours. Attendees focus on developing their social skills at the same time as challenging their offending behaviour. There are four Attendance Centres in London.

 

  • Prohibited activity.  The offender is barred from certain activities, for example attending a football match or going to a pub, on a particular day or days for a period determined by the court.

 

  • Specified activities (for up to 60 days).  These can include reparation to victims or work on to improve their basic skills such as literacy and numeracy.

 

Courts decide on the number and combination of requirements to give to an offender.  These will depend on:

 

  • The seriousness of the offence
  • The risk of harm to the public
  • The risk that the offender will commit more crimes
  • The offender’s individual circumstances.

 

For example, a low-risk offender who has committed a crime which the court does not judge to be very serious may be given a community order with just one requirement.  A high-risk, prolific offender being sentence for a more serious crime could have three or more requirements.

 

If you are an offender and have been sentenced to a community order, suspended sentence, or have come out of prison on licence click here for more information.