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 who has been convicted of committing an offense, other than through a custodial sentence (serving a jail or prison term) or capital punishment (death).
11-452: Periodic detention or weekend detention is a type of custodial sentence under which the offender is held in prison between Friday and Sunday evenings each week, but is at liberty at other times. Promoted by prison reformers as an alternative to imprisonment , periodic detention drew praise for allowing offenders to continue working, maintain family relationships, and avoid associating with more dangerous criminals in traditional prisons. It
22-445: 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
33-479: A fine alone nor a community sentence can be justified for the offence'. Some serious offences incur minimum custodial sentences, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Custodial sentences may also be used where there is a perceived threat to public safety. Community sentences are non-custodial and include fines, various mandatory but 'open' therapy and courses, restriction orders and loss or suspension of civil rights. Community sentence Traditionally,
44-439: Is beneficial for society, as it may prevent them from getting into the so-called the revolving door syndrome , the inability of a person to go back to normal life after leaving prison, becoming a career criminal . Furthermore, there are hopes 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,
55-558: The Norma Parker Periodic Detention Centre , operated at Parramatta. High-profile offenders sentenced to periodic detention included actor Diarmid Heidenreich , investment adviser Rene Rivkin and bookmaker Robbie Waterhouse . New South Wales ended its periodic detention program 2010, in favour of non-custodial sentences such as "intensive corrections orders", a form of mandatory community service possibly combined with other conditions such as drug-testing. Under
66-623: The new system, a conditional non-custodial sentence is imposed. The offender is not detained if conditions are satisfied, but the sentence may be upgraded to full-time custodial detention if the conditions are violated. The Australian Capital Territory operated a periodic detention centre at Symonston . Periodic detention operated in New Zealand between 1962 and 2002, although offenders did not always serve on weekends. High-profile offenders sentenced to periodic detention included former Member of parliament John Kirk . In 2002, periodic detention
77-419: The sentence requires the suspension of an individual's liberty and the assumption of responsibility over the individual by another body or institution. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (England and Wales) states that '(2)The court must not pass a custodial sentence unless it is of the opinion that the offence, or the combination of the offence and one or more offences associated with it, was so serious that neither
88-501: The theory of retributive justice is based on the ideas of retaliation ( punishment ), 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
99-608: Was also considerably less expensive to administer. Periodic detention was introduced in the Australian State of New South Wales in 1971 and expanded on the recommendation of the Nagle royal commission . The State's first periodic detention centre operated at the Malabar prison complex . Other centres later opened at Bathurst , Broken Hill , Emu Plains , Silverwater , Tamworth , Tomago and Unanderra . A facility for female offenders,
110-611: Was combined with community service. Referring specifically to the implementation of periodic detention in New South Wales, Jurist James Wood described such sentences as "a minor inconvenience" for offenders. Although it avoided mixing first-time and petty criminals with more serious offenders, periodic detention nonetheless brought offenders together, potentially reinforcing criminogenic behaviours. Periodic detention also requires dedicated prisons, periodic detention centres , to be built. Despite these initial costs, periodic detention
121-434: Was over 25% less expensive than its replacement in New South Wales. Custodial sentence A custodial sentence is a judicial sentence , imposing a punishment consisting of mandatory custody of the convict, either in prison or in some other closed therapeutic or educational institution, such as a reformatory , (maximum security) psychiatry or drug detoxification (especially cold turkey ). As 'custodial' suggests,
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