The 12 Requirements of a Community Order

Judges and magistrates will be able to choose a single or combination of Requirements as part of your Community Order depending on the seriousness of your offence and the potential risk of harm you pose.

They have five purposes of sentencing and will give you a sentence according to which of the five they feel need to be addressed. They will also be advised by a report from the probation service. The five purposes of sentencing are:

Punish
Rehabilitate
Protect the public
Reparation and
Reduce Re-offending.

The 12 Requirements are:

• Activity (specified) – this mostly consists of packages of work on Basic Skills, Employment, Training and Education. It can also include activities whose purpose is reparation, such as Restorative Justice, where you meet, in an organised way, with your victim and have the opportunity to apologise and make reparation. The aggregate number of days specified for the activity (or activities) can be up to 60.
  
  Alcohol treatment – You will be required to attend treatment to reduce or eliminate dependency on alcohol. At present, this Requirement can only be given with your consent.
  
  
• Attendance centre Requirement (for under 25s) – you must attend at an attendance centre for between 12 and 36 hours. Not available in Thames Valley
  
  
• Curfew  (usually with electronic monitoring) – you must remain for certain periods at a specified place; the order may last for up to six months and may be for up to 12 hours a day.
  
  
• Drug Rehabilitation – you will be required to have treatment to reduce or eliminate your dependency on or propensity to misuse drugs and provide (random) samples for testing whether or not you have any drug in your body. At present, this Requirement can only be given with your consent.

• Exclusion (usually with electronic monitoring) from certain areas – you may not enter a specified place for a period up to two years.
  
  
• Mental Health Treatment  – the court must be satisfied that your mental condition is such that you require and may be susceptable to treatment. At present, this Requirement can only be given with your consent.

• Programmes aimed at changing offending behaviour – these are Home Office accredited programmes designed to address the attitudes and patterns of behaviour that contribute to your offending, such as programmes for sex offenders, domestic violence perpetrators or those who misuse drugs.
  
  
• Prohibited Activities – you must refrain from participating in activities on a specified day or days or during a period.
  
  
• Residence Requirement – you must reside at the place specified.
  
  
• Supervision Requirement – requires that you attend additional appointments with the National Probation Service or another nominated responsible officer. The purpose of supervision is support the work undertaken through other Requirements.
  
  
• Unpaid work –between 40 and 300 hours, to be completed in 12 months. Each year probation staff in the Thames Valley will supervise some 300,000 hours of unpaid work by offenders in local communities, to ensure that they meet the requirements of their Community Order/Unpaid Work Requirement.