Ammon News -

About 73 convicted persons sentenced to imprisonment had their sentences replaced to community services in the past three months, according to official data.

This brings the total number of persons who accessed the community service program by the end of October to 406 since its start almost two years ago, the figures by the Ministry of Justice showed.

Out of the total, only 181 community service sentences were implemented. The data provided no details about the reasons behind the non-implementation of the remaining decisions.

The community service was added to the Penal Code in 2017 giving courts the authority to suspend prison sentences and replace them with non-custodial sentences (community service).

The alternative sentencing depends on the convicted person’s profile, age, the circumstances of the crime or misdemeanor and non-recidivism among other criteria.

The law defines community service as obligating the convict to perform unpaid work to serve the community for a period determined by the court, not less than 40 hours and not more than 200 hours, provided that the work is carried out within a period not exceeding one year.

Community monitoring takes place for a period determined by the court, not less than 6 months and not more than 3 years.