However, they can also attract quite significant and onerous legal consequences if they are breached. Community service programs should not be so onerous that young people find it difficult to complete them. Courts must be aware of the problems children in difficult circumstances face in complying with orders. For example, travel for a community service order may be problematic for a young person who is not receiving any assistance or support from parents and other family members and perhaps no income support payments. Community service programs should also be culturally appropriate, taking into account the particular needs and problems of children from different backgrounds and especially Indigenous children.
Effective supervision is vital to the effectiveness of community service orders.
Magistrates should give clear guidance on the respective roles of police, government agencies and community organisations in the supervision of these orders. Evidence indicates that there is often confusion and lack of co-ordination in supervision arrangements. The laws in some jurisdictions recognise that detention, while appropriate in some circumstances, is not the preferred option for achieving rehabilitation of young offenders. In Queensland, for example, the legislation provides that a court may only make a detention order against a child if, after having considered all other available sentences and taken into account the desirability of not holding a child in detention, it is satisfied that no other sentence is appropriate in the circumstances. In New South Wales and Victoria, the legislation sets out a hierarchy of penalties in order of seriousness and provides that a court must not impose a particular sentence on the scale unless it is satisfied that a lighter sentence is inappropriate.