NCJ Number
137659
Date Published
1992
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This third British Home Office bulletin that monitors the use of community service orders (CSO's) in England and Wales covers 1987-1990 and provides information and statistics on sentencing, offense group, length of orders, previous convictions, termination of orders, violations, and area variations.
Abstract
A total of 38,600 persons were sentenced to CSO's in 1990, a 14-percent increase from 1989. Community service orders were more likely to be given to male offenders than to female offenders and to 16- to 20-year-olds than to adults. The most frequent use of community service orders was for burglary offenses (16 percent). Just over one-third of CSO's were given to persons who had previously received a custodial sentence. A total of 69 percent of those sentenced to CSO's in 1990 completed the specified number of hours; 10,600 (29 percent) were returned to court for violations of CSO's. This was an increase of 900 over the previous year. Although some improvement in consistency in the use of CSO's was achieved in 1990, their use ranged from 4.8 percent of offenders in South Yorkshire to 1.7 percent of offenders in inner London and Dyfed. 5 figures, 10 tables, and 3 notes