Community service

Community service is work without payment for the benefit of local communities. It may be performed voluntarily, may be required by government instead of military service or may be required by courts instead of other forms of punishment, such as incarceration, fines, or probation.

When performed in return for crime, it may also be referred to as community restitution or community payback.

He was sentenced to 150 hours of community service for his crime.

Community service is a form of punishment imposed on a person who has been tried by a court of law and found guilty of a crime(s).

The punishment is non-custodial in which case the offender is not confined to a prison. He stays in his community and is placed under the supervision of a Community Service Officer who has a duty to ensure that the offender performs such services as environmental sanitation, attending to the needs and care of children and the elderly in government-approved homes and so on.