The comparative costs of community service and custody in Scotland

This paper examines the costs of community service orders, and compares them with the costs of alternative custodial sentences. Twelve Scottish community service schemes are studied. Costs are disaggregated to component activities (assessment, matching, placement supervision and breaches), and average costs per offender calculated and compared. It is found that, while cheaper than custody, community service is not as cheap as recent central government figures suggest. On average, community service costs the same as about six weeks of custody. The implications for cost of changes to the organisation, funding and utilisation of community service orders are discussed.