A fascinating new study has found that “greening” up vacant lots (check out those cool pictures to know what I mean) reduces the fear of crime in urban neighbourhoods.
http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2012/08/06/injuryprev-2012-040439.full.pdf+html
This ‘greening’ wasn’t done as part of community service type interventions, but there is no reason why it shouldn’t be. Restorative prisons projects and other reparation-based initiatives have shown enormous skill in ‘greening’ efforts. Individuals I have interviewed say they take particular pride in community service work that is meant to improve their own neighbourhoods or those similar to the ones they grew up in, and use the opportunity to “give something back” as a way of proving themselves as being more than the sum of their crimes. If this research is right (and more research is needed to confirm this, but it certainly makes logical sense), it seems to me that it is further evidence that directed ‘payback’ types of community service (and yes I hate that name) may be more effective than short expensive incarceration stays at making communities feel safer. Or is this all too evidence-based? Shadd
Discovering Desistance 
Hi Shadd, I agree that diversion is better than incarceration – use prisons sparingly – but even sentenced prisoners can play a role in greening the community. We have a few community service activities that prisoners in the last reintegration phase of their sentence can contribute to, and these include stone bridge building, creek and coastline conservation, maintenance of the botanical gardens and contributing to the community garden network which feeds seniors and the local community. These CSA’s do more than provide safe places, they contribute to the social and bridging capital of prisoners, allow them to explore new identities such as volunteer, skilled worker, organiser, expand their boundaries and network of pro social relationships, and in Fergus’s words develop ties that bind, all of which encourage desistance.
It is unfortunate that some community service activities used in Community Corrections (and juvenile justice) have become menial, and lost the qualities listed above, as the opportunity to create desistance opportunities still exists – it just takes creativity and the political will to use the opportunity and resources available to foster desistance.
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Absolutely. I couldn’t agree more Steve! It does seem like some of the best community service work is done by prisoners, which is highly ironic considering that those outside the bars have the better opportunity to make real contributions to communities. Sounds like the creativity is out there. Now, where on earth can we find that ‘political will’?!
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