Community Service Order: A New Penalty in the Dutch Penal Code (From Community Service: A New Option in Punishing Offenders in Europe, P 39-46, 1986, Hans-Jorg Albrecht and Wolfram Schadler, eds. -- See NCJ-116154)

• NCJ Number: 116157
• Author(s): P J P Tak
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Max-Planck-Institute Fur Auslandisches und Internationales Strafrecht
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description
• Language: English
• Country: West Germany (Former)

Annotation

This paper describes the major points on which legislators agree in a Dutch draft bill on the community service order.

Abstract

This bill, whose enactment is planned for 1987, provides an explicit legal basis for the application of the community service order as well as legal and practical solutions for problems arising during planned experiments with the order. The bill's aim is to reduce the number of short-term prison sentences. A judge may impose a community service order for offenses with a penalty of up to 6 months imprisonment. The order consists of an agreement to perform unpaid work for a specified number of hours which cannot exceed 240 hours over 6 months. The service performed is to benefit a private or public agency, institution, or service such as neighborhood centers, hospitals, homes for the elderly, sporting clubs, and environmental protection institutions. The prosecutor may extend the period within which the work is to be performed or change the type of work or the agency for which it is to be done. Probation agencies supervise the order's implementation. If an offender is unwilling to obey the order, the judge, on request of the prosecutor, may impose a prison sentence. 5 references.