Community service

• you are sentenced to unconditional imprisonment that is at most eight months long
• you want to serve your sentence as community service, and
• you are assumed to complete the community service sentence.

In community service, you serve your sentence by carrying out unpaid non-profit work in a service place arranged by the Prison and Probation Service. The work may be, among others, cleaning, renovation, maintenance of outdoor areas, kitchen or cafeteria duties or other assisting tasks in workplace offered by a municipality, an organisation or a parish. The service place can be, for instance, a service centre for elderly.

Community service may also include different programmes, tasks, discussions, rehabilitation and activities influencing your criminal behaviour. An important part of community service is solving possible substance abuse problems because you must abstain from using intoxicating substances when you serve a community service sentence.

Your ability to serve your sentence as community service is assessed in a pre-sentence report . When drawing up the pre-sentence report, you must give your written consent that a possible unconditional prison sentence may be imposed as community service. You cannot be sentenced to community service without your written consent.

Serving community service

In community service, you carry out non-profit work in your free time. It is usually assisting work and varies depending on the appointed service place. The probation office decides on the service place and the content of community service.

You must carry out the unpaid work according to a schedule given to you. Normally, you work three to four hours at a time twice a week. Community service is supervised: an official of the Prison and Probation Service makes sure that you carry out your community service sentence by calling or visiting the service place each time you are scheduled to be there. In addition, you have an appointed contact person in the service place, and your supervisor visits you and the contact person regularly.

You can live at home and work or study normally while you serve your community service sentence. If you are unemployed, you are entitled to unemployment benefit. You are reimbursed reasonable travel expenses linked to community service.

Conditions of community service

You must follow your sentence plan and schedule precisely.

You must be sober in events linked to community service. In addition, you cannot have a hangover when you carry out community service. Your sobriety can be tested by using, for instance, a breath test.

You must contact your supervisor if you are ill and cannot carry out community service. The supervisor asks you to deliver a medical certificate. You must tell your supervisor all other acceptable impediments to carrying out community service well in advance so that your supervisor can assess whether the schedule of your community service could be changed.

If you breach the conditions by, for instance, being late for community service, you may be issued a caution or a written warning.

If you seriously or repeatedly breach the conditions (for instance, unauthorised absence from community service or being under the influence of an intoxicating substance in the service place), your supervisor may suspend your community service and notify the prosecutor of the situation. At the request of the prosecutor, the court may convert the unserved part of community service into imprisonment.

Community service may also be converted into imprisonment if you are found guilty of a new offence after you have been sentenced to community service you are carrying out at the moment.