Assessment of the Public Knowledge on Community Service Sentence as an Alternative to Imprisonment
The aim of this study was to know the level of understanding/awareness of the public regarding Community Service sentence and suggest the better ways to make the public understand its benefits and participate in the implementation. 500 respondents were used in the study where by (300) respondents were Public members, (100) respondents were Community Service stakeholders (100) respondents were Offenders under Community Service. Data were collected using three methods which include: questionnaire, interview, and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The analysis of quantitative data used SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science Studies) and then data was summarized and presented using frequency distribution tables and pie charts. Qualitative data was analyzed, identified and examined to identify major themes in relation to the interview questions. It was found that 70.7% of the respondents had no knowledge on alternative to imprisonment. However there are various challenges pointed out by the respondents which hinder the implementation of CS, they include: poor awareness on alternative to imprisonment, insufficient staff of Community service offices, poor attitude of the public towards CS and also mind set that offenders should be imprisoned. It is concluded that effective sensitization on Community Service Sentences is needed which will enable the public to have an understanding of what Community Service is as well as other alternative to imprisonment.
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