Community service is performed freely. Almost any form of volunteerism can discover a place within community service. From physicians who offer their own services at free clinics to food pantry volunteers. Apparently, community services are characterized by a passion for community betterment, and not a certain skill set or educational background. But if you want to donate your time and you are looking for service areas which contain the most opportunities, below, we are going to share the most common types of community services according to the University of California’s 2008 Civic Engagement Module.
What is Community Service?
Before we talk about the most common types of community services, firstly want to explain what community service is. For your information, community service is a work in which a judge orders a defendant to act as a form of punishment which benefits the community. Usually, Judges order community service as an alternative to other forms of punishment, such as incarceration, or in addition to them. Based on the US code, community service must be purposeful, realistic, reliable, appropriate, and designed to benefit the community. The defendants cannot get compensation for community service. Community service must be completed as promptly as possible without compromising the ability of the defendants to maintain employment and meet family responsibilities.
Read also: Great Ideas for Community Service Projects
Usually, community service is not ordered for heavy crimes. While community service can be an appropriate alternative to incarceration for a defendant charged with shoplifting, but it would likely not be suitable for a defendant who has committed sexual assault, robbery, or kidnapping. In the 1960s, community service began to be used as an alternative to jail time, in response to the issue of prison overpopulation. Since then, the practice of ordering community service has already evolved and is frequently used as a component of sentencing which includes monetary sanctions and probation terms.
The Most Common Types of Community Service
According to the University of California’s 2008 Civic Engagement Module, here are the most common types of community service:
1. Community Outreach
Community outreach refers to a service endeavor which reaches out to a community in need. Community outreach, in most cases, is targeted toward a certain need and thus implies assisting a particular group of people. For instance, a medical clinic which focuses on assisting AIDS victims can be built in an impoverished country or certain area of a city. Conversely, a community outreach effort can focus on supplying a good, and not a service, such as an outreach organization which provides winter clothing for the homeless. If you want to assist a community in a certain way, chances are that you are able to discover an outreach effort which focuses on your interest.
2. Fundraising
Because community service chances will depend on donated money as much as they do on donated time and goods, then fundraising campaigns are constantly underway worldwide. There are three types of fundraising efforts which usually support fundraising for community service: door-to-door canvassing, outreach to businesses and corporations, and where a non-profit organization is involved. As with community outreach, fundraising chances can be discovered in every conceivable area of service and also welcome anyone who is willing to donate their own time or skills to collecting money.
3. Teaching or Educating
Also, include opportunities of teaching and educating, but are not limited to traditional classroom situations. For instance, teaching and educating opportunities focus on things such as educating regarding communicable diseases, money management and educating to improve literacy, and teaching a trade or a skill. In many cases, pursuing a teaching or educating chance does not need a teaching certificate or training certification. But where teaching or educating efforts focus on finance or health, particular credentials or experience may be needed.
4. Tutoring
Within teaching and educating chances lie tutoring chances, especially where the focus is educating people in academic subjects which can improve their standard of living by leading to increased job chances, such as Math and English. Tutoring will be able to be performed in relation to a particular community service project or on a long-term basis via a community betterment organization. In many cases, the volunteers discover tutoring more rewarding than teaching or educating because it can give them a closer look at a student’s progress.
Purpose of Community Service
Community service is intended to benefit the community, in which a defendant has already committed an offense or as punishment for the offender. Usually, the work which a defendant is ordered to complete is connected with the crime they committed. For instance, a person who is found guilty of vandalism will be ordered to clean public spaces. In this way, the offender is able to get an understanding of the consequences of their actions. The defendant pays off their own debt to society via community service work, with the punishment being meant to serve as a deterrent to other offenders. Community service gives the offenders the opportunity to remain part of, and give back to, their own communities.
Benefits of Community Service
By the way, how does community service benefit the community? Community service has benefits for the community, the offender, and also the justice system as a whole. The exact benefits of an order to do community service will depend on the particular type of work specified by a judge, however the work is always supposed to be beneficial to the community. For instance, community service may involve working for an addiction treatment facility, a charitable organization, or a government organization, with the goal of assisting the community at large.
For the offenders, community service will be able to serve as an alternative to incarceration. The meaningful work offenders complete will show them the consequences of their own behavior, instill a sense of accountability for their actions, and also allow them to foster self-worth. In addition, community service will eliminate the costs involved with incarceration and reduce overcrowding in prisons. Eventually, court-ordered community service is a precious resource for the governmental and non-profit organizations for whom offenders are ordered to work.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
