Finland
In Finland, a community service order of 20-200 hours can replace an imprisonment sentence of 8 months or less.  The community service order can be sentenced after a two-stage process in which courts examine unconditional prison and then administer a three-part test to determine whether the offender should receive community service instead of incarceration.  If commutation is approved, the formula for community service is 1 hour community service for every day the offender would have been imprisoned.

Ireland
The Irish scheme of community service consists of two types of community service placement: personalized and group.  In personalized placement, the offender is supervised by service recipients on duties the offenders themselves may have proposed.  Group placement refers to placement that involves supervision by the Probation and Welfare offices and includes jobs such as gardening, landscaping, and other maintenance/manual labor type positions.

Kazakhstan
A conference focused on alternatives to imprisonment in Kazakhstan was held in 1999.  This conference made the following practical recommendations for the implementation of community service in Kazakhstan: allow for work to be performed at the offenders’ previous place of work or in/near their place of residence, substitute at much higher rates community service for detention, make the community service substitution at the offenders’ consent.

The Netherlands
Community service as an alternative to imprisonment of less than 6 months for adults started on an experimental basis in The Netherlands in 1981.  In subsequent years, community service was applied to juveniles in the form of work projects.  In regards to juveniles, community service is considered an “alternative sanction” that can be imposed for a variety of offenses and is meant to replace traditional sanctions, such as fines, custody, and suspended sentences.

In The Netherlands, the focus is on abolishing short-term imprisonment.  In order to succeed in lowering the number of offenders who receive short-term prison sentences, community service was established as a sentence in its own right in 1989.  Community service could then be offered as an alternative to a defendant after a sentence of imprisonment was imposed.  Those offenders who choose community service are supervised by probation officers.  The number of community service participants has been fairly stable each year, but may increase due to the scheme’s reductionist efficacy as well as its inexpensiveness compared to prisons.

Norway
Norway’s penal code was amended to include community service in 1991.  The amendment stated that a community service order of up to 360 hours could be imposed for a misdemeanor offense, or one that is punishable by 1 year or less in prison.  The order can only be given if the offender agrees to the community service and is “deemed suitable” to participate in the community service program.

Romania
In 2002, a project was established to expand the capacity of a group of Romanian experts in the promotion of community service.  The project consisted of the experts working together with prosecutors, judges, and probation officers to prepare guidelines for community service in Romania.  The activities involved the examination of various international standards and recommendations for community service.  This project allowed the Romanian experts to develop a “plan of action for the implementation of community service in Romania within the present legal framework.”  The plan included a recommendation to draft new legislation regarding community service.

Scotland
Community service was introduced on an experimental basis in Scotland in 1977.  In 1978, the Community Service by Offenders Act was passed and permits offenders who have been convicted of crimes punishable by imprisonment to perform between 40-240 hours of work within the community.  Initial examination of this program found that nearly half of offenders were given community service instead of incarceration, and overall the various people involved found the community service program worthwhile and the services it provided of great value.

The community service placements in Scotland tend to fall into two categories: group and agency.  In group placement, which is the primary type, offenders are placed in small groups that carry out work intended to benefit non-profit organizations or disadvantaged members of the community.  Group placement work often involves jobs such as painting, gardening, decorating, and carpentry. 

The second type, agency placement, involves individual offenders providing services to nonprofit organizations.  The nonprofit organizations involved include day care facilities for children, homes for the elderly, and youth clubs.  Offenders involved in agency placement are supervised by agency staff that give them tasks and monitor their work.

By 1990, the community service scheme in Scotland was booming, so much so that it became hard to manage the number of community service orders being imposed.  Fortunately, sufficient funding is provided by the government and workloads have been put into manageable proportions.