Community sentence or alternative sentencing or non-custodial sentence is a collective name in criminal justice for all the different ways in which courts can punish a

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one juris ...

who has been convicted of committing an offense, other than through a custodial sentence (serving a jail or prison term) or

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

(death). Traditionally, the theory of

retributive justice Retributive justice is a legal concept whereby the criminal offender receives punishment proportional or similar to the crime. As opposed to revenge, retribution—and thus retributive justice—is not personal, is directed only at wrongdoing, ...

is based on the ideas of retaliation (

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or beh ...

), which is valuable in itself, and also provides deterrent. Before the police, sentences of execution or imprisonment were thought pretty efficient at this, while at the same time removing the threat criminals pose to the public (protection). Alternative sentences add to these goals, trying to reform the offender ( rehabilitation), and put right what they did ( reparation). Traditionally, victims of a crime only played a small part in the criminal justice process, as this breached the rules of society. The restorative approach to justice often includes a requirement for the offender to apologize, compensate for the damages they have caused, or repair such damages with their labor as part of their sentence. The shift towards alternative sentencing means that some offenders avoid imprisonment with its many unwanted consequences. This is beneficial for society, as it may prevent them from getting into the so-called revolving door syndrome, the inability of a person to go back to normal life after leaving prison, becoming a career criminal. Furthermore, there is hope that this could alleviate prison overcrowding and reduce the cost of punishment. Instead of depriving those who commit less dangerous offenses (such as summary offenses) of their freedom, the courts put some limitations on them and give them some duties. The list of components that make up a community sentence is of course different in individual countries, and will be combined individually by the court. Non-custodial sentences can include: * unpaid work (this can be called ''community payback'' or community service) *

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

* curfew *

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

(that means that breaking the law during a sentence may lead to imprisonment) * wearing an electronic tag * mandatory treatments and programs (drug or alcohol treatment, psychological help, back-to-work programs) * apology to the victim * specific

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying o ...

s and injunctions (not to drink alcohol, not to go to certain pubs, meet certain people) * regular reporting to someone (offender manager, probation) * judicial corporal punishmentJ.D. Gleissner, "Prison Overcrowding Cure: Judicial Corporal Punishment of Adults," Vol. 49, Issue 4, ''Criminal Law Bulletin'' Art. 2 (Summer 2013).

References

{{reflist Punishments Sentencing (law)

See also

References