Probation and community service questions

Dancre said:

My character is 16 years old and a nerd. Her only friend in HS is a girl who does drugs. One day the friend invites my MC to party with her and her friends, one being the guy the MC has a crush on. The group ends up spraying gang graffitti on a warehouse wall and are caught by the cops. The police find weed on the kids. My MC is given community service since it is her first arrest. my question is on the community service.

Now I understand that the probation officer gives the community work. My MC is cleaning trash in a park. Would there be a supervisor over the group?

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Not always. In some counties, such as mine. If you get CS you can take a variety of options. All involve working at some county facility or dpt. Usually minor offenders have the option of picking trash up along the road or at county parks. Working at the county roads department washing all the work vehicles. Working a the county animal shelter, etc. All under the supervision of the regular department supervisor. The only time a PO or DS is with them if it's a group of juvies. Otherwise all adults have to turn paperwork into the supervisor and the then the sup signs off on it with the date/time/ and number of hours the person worked.

Dancre said:

Would the supervisor, if there is one, make sure the kids showed up and worked?

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Not always. Usually our county departments are advised a week in advance that they'll have some community service people. Along with names and number of hours the person has. If they don't show, then the CS people are notified the first work day following.

Dancre said:

Could there be abuses by the supervisor? i.e. exchange sexual favors to sign the work releases and let them leave early?

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Sure........anything is possible. Though I doubt it happens on a regular basis around here. Actually, have never heard of one incident.

Dancre said:

Who would the supervisor be? a probation officer, someone hired by the state? Would the other kids doing the community service be loyal to each other? or would they threatening to each other?

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All juvies are supervised by a CSO (Community Service Officer) which is part of our Juvie Justice Dpt or by a sworn DS. Non-juvies are sup'd by whatever deparment gets 'em.

Dancre said:

If you yourself have been in community service by the courts, can you tell me what it was like?

thanks so much for your help.

kim

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Most county workers don't care what your there for.........they just want ya to work. At least in my county. 80% of all the CS people we get just wanna do they're time and move on with their lives. 10% are total assbags who don't give a rat's ass about doing thier time and goof off. The other 10% are just hopeless.

IMO.

-Bill

Dancre said:

Now I understand that the probation officer gives the community work. My MC is cleaning trash in a park. Would there be a supervisor over the group? Would the supervisor, if there is one, make sure the kids showed up and worked? Could there be abuses by the supervisor? i.e. exchange sexual favors to sign the work releases and let them leave early? Who would the supervisor be? a probation officer, someone hired by the state? Would the other kids doing the community service be loyal to each other? or would they threatening to each other?

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The JUDGE, not the parole officer, sentences her to community service. The court usually has a liason who matches offenders with jobs, looking for agencies who want the hassle that comes with it.

With a group of kids, there would be a supervisor - a court employee, maybe a parks department employee - taking names and calling roll at random intervals. In some places, the kids wear jumpsuits with "community service" on the back.

For solo community service - say library work - the library would provide a supervisor who has to sign a statement that the kid showed and worked.

You can have all the abuse, loyalty or harassment you need ... these are people.

I've had foster children who had community service. Basically they are given a list of community agencies who will accept work from the offenders. These include places like the Humane Society, Thrift Stores, Churches and so forth. It is the child's job to call these places and see if they are open to a new offender starting. As soon as they get an OK, they call their PO and tell them where they will be working. The offender takes a sheet into the place and whoever is in charge there, keeps track of the time. Some are militant about it and others are quite lax. Generally, the places the child works are very kind to them. They realize they've obviously done something to end up there, but they are happy for the help. If this is not a good option for the child or they simply don't want to do it, because it's embarassing, or because they can only work a few hours a week and they want to be done with it sooner, there is another option. In my town anyway- they can opt for work crew. For this, they go at the assigned time, either morning 6-12 or afternoons 12-6. There is no sign up for this so it's first-come, first served. If you are not the pushy type, you can get rolled over and pushed to the back, thus not getting to work that day. AFternoon shifts are preferable to youth as they don't have to get up early. But when it gets REALLY hot in the summer, the morning shifts look more desirable.

If you are looking for a place for abuse, I would think that the community service would be the most viable option. Conceivably a thrift store owner, or whatever, could refuse to count the hours. And I suppose if the child were really worried about this and not trusting the system, they'd probably do something they wouldn't normally. In addition-not showing up for work is considered a violation of their parole and could mean they have blown it and get it revoked and have to go back to Juvie.

Oh and one more thing, for community service, here in my town, the child does not wear anything that distinguishes them from any other volunteer. BUT if they do the Work Crew, they do wear a vest, and everyone knows that there aren't a lot of teenage volunteers who want to pick up trash. So though the best doesn't indicate they are JJC kids, everyone knows.

And still something else- the judge/PO really stress that community service isn't meant to be a punishment but to give back to the community. Don't know how many kids buy that but that's what is told to them anyway.

Hope this helps.

Lavinia