In praise of ... community sentences

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/15/in-praise-of-community-sentences

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The former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to a year's part-time community service in an old people's home after his conviction for tax dodging. At 77 he was considered too old for a prison sentence, and it seems appropriate that a politician who defrauded society should pay back in the most literal way, although the details of his duties can only be a matter of speculation. He joins a small cast of fallen celebrities required to do some kind of restorative justice that includes Naomi Campbell after a phone-throwing episode, Boy George for wasting police time, and the father of John Terry after he was entrapped in a drug scam. But community sentences should not be dismissed as a soft option for famous folk. They are more effective than short custodial sentences at preventing reoffending, cheaper, and less destructive of family lives. Not yet effective enough, but still better than banging people up.