Robert Brier

Final Draft- Proposal

10/27/15

Over the past forty eight years, community service has become punishment for many
misdemeanor crimes or in most cases crimes with sentences fewer than sixty days. Also in some
cases inmates, when given the opportunity, tend to engage in community service activities while
serving jail time in order to shorten their sentence, and possibly make parole. Judges tend to give
community service to crimes that are of a less severe nature, for example someone who has been
arrested for graffiti might be sentenced to community service opposed to jail time. Community
service is a way of positive rehabilitation for those who may be first time offenders or even for
those who have been convicted and jailed. As a researcher my main goal is to evaluate the uses
and functions of community service within the courts and correctional institutions. I would like
to shed some light on the reasons why it is used and the results of its use.

Researchers have tended to study the effects of community service outside of the United
States, most studies that exist tend to be in countries in Europe. Most researchers have tended to
find that when community service is enforced, the recidivism rate for those who act in
community service tends to be significantly lower. In other words, when offenders participated in
community service they were much less likely to be arrested a second time. In recent studies
(conducted within the past 17 years) studies have tended to consist of small experimental and
control groups, most were no more than 130 random convicts.

One of the many studies conducted, entitled Does Community Service Rehabilitate Better
than short term Imprisonment?: Results of a Controlled Experiment, occurred in Switzerland in
February of 2000. The study was conducted by Martin Killias, Marcelo Aebi and Denis Ribeaud.
The study was organized to compare the effects and differences between community service and
prison, for sentences no longer than 14 days. The controlled experiment took 123 randomly
assigned convicts and divided them up into community service sentencing and prison
sentencing(Killias 2000). The study proved not only that the convicts selected for community
service were less likely to be re-arrested, but the convicts that were sentenced to prison time
were much more likely to develop hostile attitudes towards the criminal justice system as a
whole(Killias 2000).

As a researcher, we may want to explore the potential negatives as well as the positives.
Also we may want to explain how effective community service is within a correctional setting
and why in some cases is not exactly effective. Most studies that have been conducted in recent
years tend to take into consideration both those who are eligible for and not eligible for
community service, which may hinder results. As I conduct my own research, I would like to
reevaluate this idea of positives and negatives. I intend to shed some light on how the community
service sentencing can not only be positive, but I would like to explore the potential negatives of
community service sentencing within the courts and correctional institutions..

In an attempt to revisit this topic of community service within a correctional setting and
determining its effectiveness and why exactly it is used, I plan on interviewing a local Staten
Island judge. For the most part, the judge should be able to shed some light on why exactly
community service is used as a punishment for people who are arrested. He also may be able to

discuss the reason why community service is effective and/or why it is not so effective as recent
studies make it out to be.

Also In most research papers regarding the topic of community service within the
correctional institution, they tend to focus on the potential positives of community service. As I
begin to research and write my paper I will attempt to open up this idea of why exactly the courts
and correctional institutions use this concept of community service. My research will challenge
the initial positive reviews of community service, and open up the potential negatives of
community service as a potential sentence. As we look further into the topic I will help the reader
assess the results and the reasons behind these results. I will do this through analysis of
recidivism rates and attitudes toward the criminal justice system of individuals sentenced to
community service and those sentenced to prison.

In 2008 there were over 775,000 convicts in almost 3,500 correctional institutions, crime
is a phenomenon that will most likely never stop. But, community service may positively affect
criminals and push them away from a life of crime, whether it be a substitute for jail time or used
during jail time. Community service gives means of positively affecting the community and
positively affecting those who do not follow the rules of society. Community service, in many
ways can be used as a form of rehabilitation. This topic is important due to the fact that crime
will never be extinct. Almost 80 billion dollars is spent yearly on prisons and prisoners, but if we
can lower recidivism rates through the use of community service and lower the amount of people
in prison then this money can be used elsewhere. As United States citizens we all pay taxes each
and every year, therefore our hard earned money is being spent on prisons and the prisoners
within it. If community service was implemented more, our tax dollars may be spent elsewhere,

potentially on something we can take advantage of, such as infrastructure and schooling systems
for our future children.