Community Service, Art. 23 JCC

The juvenile can be obliged through personal efforts to work for the benefit of social organizations, the public interest, and handicapped/special needs or impaired individuals. The activity must take the age and abilities of the juvenile into account. They are not compensated for their work. Besides their work performance, other work provisions have recently been made available, particularly the participation in coursework or recreational programs. The community service can be mandated for juveniles up to age 14 for no more than 10 days, and after 15 years of age for up to 3 months. Assignments primarily in public or nonprofit and charitable organizations are particularly worth considering—work in a city nursery, a work site, the fire brigade, museums, sports facilities, or homes for the elderly (though not in the care sector). Moreover, there are assignments at mountain farms or for the maintenance of hiking paths. Contrary to other countries, the nonprofit community service in Switzerland is more often a sentence by Art. 23 JCC than a diversion measure by Art. 21 Paragraph 1 lit. c JCC. It is considered a special pedagogically useful sanction for juveniles because it strives to avoid an experience of passive suffering and instead requires him/her to be actively committed to some good. It is by far the most common type of sentence.