Community Service

In some states, offenders are required to pay restitution through community service programs, such as picking up litter on the roadways. Some jurisdictions attempt to optimize the public’s benefit by tailoring the particular skills of the offender to meet the needs of the community. Additionally, public awareness of, and approval for, DWI enforcement may be increased by having specially uniformed offenders perform highly visible work. Anecdotal responses from the National Hardcore Drunk Driver Project Survey indicate having offenders perform especially disagreeable jobs may have some deterrence value, especially if they are in public view.

In its 2000 Safety Report, the National Transportation Safety Board says, "While community service may help relieve the problem of limited jail space, existing research has not identified any significant effects of community service on recidivism or crashes."

Where Is Community Service Used?

Community service is available in most states and is mandatory in some, including Colorado and Georgia. Connecticut makes community service (100 hours) mandatory in all cases. While a few states require longer terms of community service in certain circumstances, most either do not require it, allow it as an alternative to incarceration, or apply it only for certain offenses (Fazzalaro 2001).

At the judge’s discretion, community service may be used in lieu of jail or fines in some states, particularly on a first offense. It also can be used as a condition of probation.

In a program in Arizona, uniformed DWI prison inmates perform highly visible community service work, such as litter abatement and improvements to parks and recreation facilities. Minimum-security inmates are paid 75 cents per hour, of which 50 cents is withheld to pay for program costs, making the program 100 percent self-supporting. The program has received broad-based public approval.

How Effective Is Community Service?

Community service as a stand-alone alternative to harsher sentencing appears to have little beneficial effect on hardcore offenders. Both the NTSB and MADD recommend eliminating the federal traffic safety provision establishing community service as an alternative to incarceration as outlined in TEA-21. Difficulties of the program include finding suitable jobs, liability risk, the cost of supervision and the offender’s failure to provide the service. Treatment professionals note community service may not be effective because it focuses on punishment without addressing underlying patterns responsible for alcohol abuse.

Some jurisdictions utilize community service as part of the treatment process. This is especially true in those jurisdictions practicing restorative or community justice. For more information on restorative justice, see the Effective Treatment section.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving. 2002. It's time to get MADD all over again: Resuscitating the nation's efforts to prevent impaired driving: A report from the MADD impaired driving summit. Irving, TX: Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

National Transportation Safety Board. 2000. Safety Report: Actions to Reduce Fatalities, Injuries, and Crashes Involving the Hard Core Drinking Driver. Washington, DC: National Transportation Safety Board.

Fazzalaro, J.J. 2001. Office of Legislative Research Research Report: Drunk Driving Penalty Comparison. Hartford, CT: Connecticut Office of Legislative Research.