The intention of this study was to assess community attitudes towards service
programme for offenders. Specifically the study wanted to assess people‟s
knowledge on community service programme. Explore community attitudes towards
community service programmes and come up with recommendations on how to
improve the programme. The study adopted a case study design and used both
quantitative and qualitative methods to collect and analyze data. Data was collected
from 64 respondents including 20 community service officers, 20 community service
offenders, 20 community members and 4 resident magistrates using structured
questionnaire and interviews methods. Microsoft Excel Software and thematic
analysis were used to analyze quantitative and qualitative data. Study findings
suggest that: First, the majority 16(27.7%) of community members was not aware of
community service programme. Second, there is negative attitude of the community
since most 17(28.3%) of the community members argued that, it is, lenient as
compared with imprisonment. Third, the majority 46(76%) of all respondents
suggested that awareness raising campaigns and government allocation of more
funding for community service department as strategies to improve the programme
as an alternative sentence to imprisonment should be encouraged. From these
findings, it can be concluded that, lack of awareness of community service
programme contributes to negative attitudes towards community service programme.
Moreover, the study findings can also suggest that, the government has not
adequately disseminated education on community service programme Therefore,
there is a need for, advocacy and awareness raising campaigns to be conducted by
social workers and NGOs to eliminate negative attitudes on the pogramme.