community service
 

just seen this , and why not , imho there should be a lot more of this , instead of slaps on wrists and promises to be good , chain gangs might be a good idea , pity the dogooders would complain about them being inhumane :mad:

Re: community service
 

Not me!I reckon that it will do them a world of good and make everyone else feel better about the society they live in. I believe in this form of punishment as some hard physical good comes out of it and the persons concerned get to be really useful in their spare time.

A local prison has a scheme where the inmates do up and repair old wheelchairs that are supplied out to third world and developing countries.
I'd far rather see this happen than someone sat in a cell 23 hours out of 24.How does that help someone to change their view point?

Incog. :)

Re: community service
 

People chained together? Yes, I would call that inhumane and have a problem with it. However I have absolutely no problem and think it's a damn good idea for people convicted of offences like that to be punished by being made to perform beneficial services for the community.

Re: community service
 

so you think a chain gang is a bad idea then :confused:

Re: community service
 

We are too soft on them :disturbd: you do the crime,you serve the time,the hard way :D

Re: community service
 

your not wrong there :tu:

Re: community service
 

I think people performing community sevice as part of punishment, like cleaning grafitti, canal clearing etc, is a good idea and is beneficial to everyone. I think chaining people up, as in a chain gang, while they are doing it...is a very bad idea.

Re: community service
 

fair play , i wasnt having a go at you , i was just confirming your post :)

Re: community service
 

Why? :confused:

Re: community service
 

Chain gangs are a great idea in principle. If you had a choice between having a prisoner locked up and on his bed 22 hours a day, and him actually doing something useful. Think of all the cleaning up jobs that don't get done because we can't afford to pay people to do it?

The chain thing isn't inhumane, as it just makes sense security wise, but what you do have to be careful is that it isn't too punishing on the body. In the US, they take it a bit far, and they have to work 12-14 hours a day, (and in some places, in 90 degree temperatures, high humidty), with little water, rest and food. So long as the prisoners health and physical wellbeing is preserved, i'm all for it.

Re: community service
 

NP, I should have been clearer first time :)

Because I don't think demeaning people and treating people like animals like that is any way to go about things, no matter how much they behave like animals. I think community service is a great way for people to make amends and is a suitable punishment that fits in with my beliefs on rehabilitation. In my opinion, demeaning people by chaining them up would only negate all of the beneficial aspects of community service as punishment.

Re: community service
 

and that is a very reasoned argument :tu:

Re: community service
 

Is it really that economic though? Consider the costs of transporting the labourers to the site, supervising and guarding, even the beaurocrat who decides where they are going to go, plus the inevitable health and safety admin risk assesment team (if someone got hurt there'd be hell to pay).

Ultimately the real importance here is that anyone given a punishment, knows it is a punishment. To achieve that there needs to be a level of inconvenience and hardship. The namby pamby stuff that frequently serves as comunity service is often just laughed off by the offender.

BTW, where in the article in the original link does it say the offenders will be chained up while doing their hard labour :confused:

Re: community service
 

Good point. True, it isn't totally free considering all the wages, but I think that even if the work was subbed out to a professional cleaning company, although it would be cheaper, there would be a less overall worth to it. As you said, prisoners should be punished and not given cushy ride.

Noone said they would, but in America, they almost always are. If prisoners here took up forced labour, then logically they would need to be chained up, although i'm sure human rights groups would be against it.

The article though doesn't talk about escape-risk prisioners though, but non-custodial sentences. The kids aren't supposed to be locked up, and so can't techniocally escape.

Re: community service
 

I can go with that :tu: