The Extent of the Application of Community Service Order as an Alternative Punishment in Malaysia

Abstract

The criminal justice system provides a range of punishment to be meted out to criminal offenders. The types of punishment include custodial and non-custodial sentences. Custodial sentence refers mainly to imprisonment of the offenders. On the other hand, there are several types of noncustodial sentence such as fine, probation and bond of good behaviour. Recently it can be seen that a new kind of non-custodial sentence, that is community service order has gained acceptance by the courts of law in several criminal jurisdictions in the world such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America. As a developing country, Malaysia must be proactive in keeping abreast of this legal development. Therefore it is important to identify whether in Malaysia there exists provisions of law that allow for the application of community service order as an alternative punishment. This paper aims at discussing the provisions of law pertaining to community service order and the extent of its applicability in criminal cases in Malaysia. For the purpose of this paper, the writers adopted a qualitative method, focusing on statutory analysis in order to reach the desired objective.

Community Service as an Alternative Penalty to Short-Term Imprisonment in the Uae and Malaysia: A Comparative Legal Analysis

“…Similarly, we find that the Malaysian Criminal Procedure Code does not require this condition in the provisions of Section 293(1)(e) (i-iii), which means that this penalty is mandatory, contradicting its purpose. Therefore, I propose adding the condition of the convicted person's consent to perform community service to Section 121 of the UAE Federal Law on Crimes and Penalties, as well as to Section 293(1)(e) (i-iii) of the Malaysian Criminal Procedure Code (Rahim, Zainudin &, Tengku, 2013), by drawing on the French approach in this regard, as the requirement of the convicted person's consent is mentioned in Article 131 (8) of the French Penal Code. Thirdly, the sentenced individual should not be a repeat offender or a recidivist.…”