What is a Community Order?

When deciding on a sentence, magistrates and Judges have a basic choice between a prison sentence, the Community Order or a fine. The Community Order was introduced in April 2005 under the new Criminal Justice Act. It replaces all existing community sentences for offences committed from April 2005. It allows magistrates and Judges to tailor-make a different sentence for each offender, based on their offences, by choosing from a range of 12 different requirements. In addition, technological advances such as electronic tagging are now easily added to the conditions of a sentence - providing innovative ways to deny liberty, reduce re-offending and ensure that community sentences are not a soft option.

The 12 Community Order Requirements

Compulsory Unpaid Work(Community Payback)

This involves demanding and constructive activities, such as conservation work, cleaning up graffiti, or working with a local charity. See our Community Payback page for more information about successful projects and how we can help you.

Participation In Any Specified Activity

These activities may include improving basic skills (such as reading and writing) or making reparation to the people affected by the crime.

Programmes

Accredited programmes are a nationally prescribed curriculum of courses which aim to change the way offenders think and consequently how they behave. They include general offending programmes and others targeting specific offences such as domestic violence and drink driving.

Prohibition From Certain Activities

An offender may be ordered not to do certain activities at specified times.

Curfew

An offender may be ordered to stay at a particular location for certain hours of the day. Curfews help to structure an offender’s life and break the cycle of offending. They will normally have to wear an electronic tag during their sentence. A local company Securicor Custodial Services fix and monitor the tags in North Yorkshire.

Exclusion

An offender may be prohibited from certain areas (for up to two years) and will normally have to wear an electronic tag during that time.

Residence

An offender may be required to live in a specified place, such as an approved hostel or other residential accommodation.

Mental Health Treatment

After taking professional advice, the court may decide that the offender’s sentence should include health treatment. The offender must consent to this treatment.

Drug Rehabilitation (DRR)

These orders are designed for those offenders whose offences are directly related to their drug habit. They involve intensive contact with probation, drug treatment agency staff and regular reviews in court to check progress. National evidence suggests this programme successfully reduces both dependency on drugs and the amount of crime committed.

The Drug rehabilitation requirement offers low, medium and high levels of interventions, which gives a much greater scope in offering treatments to drug users which match treatment need.

Offenders on the DRR programme are also required to attend review hearings at court. This regular feedback enhances the monitoring process and ensures both the offender and the courts’ are kept up to date regarding the order’s effectiveness.

Alcohol Treatment

This requirement is appropriate for offenders whose crime may be caused by alcohol abuse. An offender must agree to this treatment and it must last for at least six months.

Supervision

This requirement means that an offender’s rehabilitation is supervised by the Probation Service. This requirement may be used with other requirements, such as the participation in specified activities and programme requirements.

Attendance Centre

Offenders under the age of 25 may be required to attend a particular centre at a specified time for between 12 and 36 hours, over the course of their sentence. At the moment there are no attendance centres in York and North Yorkshire.