Community service as an alternative punishment: the extent of its applications on the categories of crimes and offender in Malaysia (original) (raw)
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Legal Issues in Implementing the Community Service Orders for Child Offenders in Malaysia
Community service orders are a proposed alternative form of punishment for children who have been or are in conflict with the law. Despite an absence of clear laws in Malaysia pertaining to this order regarding its application to child offenders, it is nonetheless viewed as a more suitable form of punishment in protecting a child offender's best interest compared to a fine or a sentence of imprisonment. In light of the above, the objective of this article is to analyse two main legal issues relating to the future implementation of community service orders as an alternative form of sentence, such as the number of credit hours per sentence and the types of community service activities to be implemented. The research has shown that there is no uniformity in determining the minimum and maximum amount of credit hours in implementing community service orders against child offenders where some countries may have the maximum of 80 to 150 hours and 8 to 10 hours for the minimum. The research also found that community service orders have greatly benefited both the society and child offenders; the child offenders will be integrated back to the society and might as well undergo their rehabilitation process. This research may be significant in preparing guidelines or a complete implementation model for community service orders applicable to child offenders in Malaysia, as well as a reference for the Officers in the Community Service Department and Magistrates in the Child Courts in Malaysia.
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Children who find themselves on the wrong side of the law must bear the legal consequences to ensure that they obey societal norms. The question is: what theory forms the legal basis for legal action against these troubled young offenders? Will the courts apply the deterrence theory by sentencing them to harsher punishments, or will they apply the rehabilitation theory by passing lighter orders? The objective of this article is to debate one of the theories applied by the Court for Children in their adjudicating process-the rehabilitation theory, and its application. This article will also discuss two legal provisions in the Child Act 2001 Malaysia (Act 611) which are based on the rehabilitation theory. This study finds that the rehabilitation theory is the best and most suitable theory to be applied to child offenders because it focuses on individual rehabilitation by taking into consideration the aspects of education, societal integration and rehabilitating them of their criminal mentality. The two aforementioned provisions, namely, on ‘approved school’ and ‘community services’, are orders founded on the rehabilitation theory and can potentially prevent child offenders from involving themselves in criminal activities in the future. The importance of this study is paramount as it shows that Malaysia is clearly behind in assimilating rehabilitative values and theory into Act 611. Ultimately, the placement of specific legislative provisions regarding community service within Act 611 is an initiative that must be expedited.
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This is the first in a series of reports as part of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies Community Sentences project. The project was initially established to investigate and monitor the new Community Order introduced in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 by providing good quality, objective information about the way it was used and managed during a period of great change following the creation of the National Offender Management Service(NOMS). However, as this report demonstrates, soon after the implementation of the Community Order on 4 April 2005, it became clear that the new Suspended Sentence Order, sometimes referred to as ‘custody minus’, was playing a significant role in sentencing and impacting directly on the work of the Probation Service. The project’s remit was therefore expanded to examine the Suspended Sentence Order. These new sentences raise significant issues for the courts, the Probation Service, the wider penal system, and, of course, the offenders who are sentence...
Contextualising Institutionalised Prevention of Recidivism among Malaysian Petty Criminals
Currently, Malaysian crime recidivism efforts are largely prison initiated. The practice is to incarcerate petty criminals for a stipulated time and enforcing offenders to undergo an institutionalised character strengthening programme covering religious or moral education and vocational training. Evidence suggests that such efforts do not reduce recidivism and may equip petty criminals with knowledge and skills to better carry out crimes. A review of current institutionalised programmes indicates that underlying psychological variables that may lead to recidivism are not addressed. This cross-sectional study compares a group of 191 incarcerated male prisoners and 392 male members of the public using a test battery representing nine psychological scales: aggression, self-discipline, morality, excitement seeking, anxiety, intrinsic motivation, caution, intellect and empathy. The findings indicate differences between normal and prison populations, implying that contextualising institut...
Evaluation and Program Planning, 2019
From the rise of restorative justice to evidence-based approaches to reducing recidivism, the intellectual landscape of criminal justice has seen considerable change in recent decades. The result is that an increasing number of countries have tackled the task of shifting preexisting political institutions to confirm with these new understandings. This is, of course, no easy feat. A great number of challenges confront willing policymakers, a reality that often puts philosophy at loggerheads with practicality. Moreover, the political process of change is subject to the influence of cultural and institutional norms. In this paper, we look at one particular case studythat of Malaysia's juvenile justice systemto understand the challenges faced in changing criminal justice policy. We identify three primary categories of challenges and elucidate their shape and impact through the Malaysian example. We also briefly analyze potential opportunities to mitigate and overcome these challenges. Furthermore, we also conclude with several implications for future research that we deem are important to be taken place. In sum, we argue that criminal justice reform must be undertaken with an eye toward important societal and institutional norms, each requiring thoughtful analysis of complex local cases.
The use and impact of the Community Order and the Suspended Sentence Order
The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London is an independent charity that informs and educates about all aspects of crime and criminal justice. We provide information, produce research and carry out policy analysis to encourage and facilitate an understanding of the complex nature of issues concerning crime.