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This text focuses on the trend towards using unpaid labor as a punishment in order to avoid the problems associated with incarceration, such as overcrowded prisons and high costs of maintaining the prisons. Discussions include that of the Vera Institute of Justice, which sentences small time but repeated property offenders to community service. Examples of alternative sentences include painting nursing homes, repairing park benches, rehabilitating ghetto buildings and other manual labor jobs.

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CHOICE Review

McDonald presents a comprehensive analysis of the introduction by the Vera Institute of Justice (New York) of its community service sentencing project into three different courts in New York City between 1979 and 1981. McDonald correctly points out that implementation of community service sentencing programs in this country has been inconsistent due to the lack of a clearly defined mandate for such programs. Whereas sentiment favoring the development of statutes mandating incarceration for those convicted of crime is relatively pervasive, fiscal considerations including facility overcrowding often intervene to moderate the effect of such laws. Although community service sentencing programs have been regarded by many as plausible and inexpensive alternatives to incarceration, little systematic research designed to assess the impact of these programs on the courts, the public, and offenders exists in the contemporary literature. The author presents conclusions derived from empirical research based on the Vera Institute project in a manner designed to inform policy formulation by criminal justice practitioners. McDonald presents the conclusions derived from this rather esoteric analysis in a manner that is understandable and concise. Recommended strongly for those interested in community-based corrections; appropriate for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and criminal justice administrators.- T.J. Hickey, Lane Community College