Community Service Orders

Community Service Orders (CSO) are issued by courts as a sentence to deserving offenders rather undergo imprisonment or payment of a fine. The reporting period (2018-19) indicates a total of 10,107 (842 females, 9265 males) convicts were sentenced to perform community service orders representing 73 % of the annual target of 13871 orders. The number of community service orders account for 45.4% of all convictions in the country in the reporting period. This indicates the potential contribution of CSOs as a sentence towards decongestion of prisons. However, as acknowledged that Community Service as a sentencing option is more pronounced at the tail of the chain of justice, more efforts aiming at decongestion through identification of eligible offenders in police cells and prison should be encouraged.