Viešųjų darbų bausmė

LTStraipsnyje analizuojama viena iš bausmių rūšių – viešieji darbai, atliekama šios bausmės istorinė analizė. Atskleidžiami viešųjų darbų sankcijos privalumai ir trūkumai. Lyginamas viešųjų darbų bausmės reglamentavimas Lietuvos, Latvijos ir Estijos valstybėse, apžvelgiamas šios sankcijos praktinis taikymas Lietuvoje. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Viešieji darbai; Bausmė; Lietuva; Latvija; Estija. Keywords: Public Works; Punishment; Lithuania; Latvia; Estonia.

ENThe article analyses the regulation of the community work service punishment in the Republic of Lithuania. It was introduced to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania in 2000 (came into force in 2003). This punishment is one of the most modern and advanced sentence in the last decades of the twentieth century. Community service has already been applied in the period of Ancient Rome. The people who have committed a criminal offense were used as unpaid labourer to perform public works. Concept of community work service is enshrined in article 46 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania. A person sentenced to perform community service shall be under the obligation to work for the community without remuneration from 10 to 40 hours per month during the time period set by the court. Working for the community means working for health care, social and welfare institutions or gevernmental and non-governmental agencies and organizations, providing social support, service or assistance. It is possible to assess the advantages of community work service. Firstly, it is less severe punishment. Moreover, this type of penalty is cost-effective, because the state saves funds required for the maintenance of prison. Lastly, the community service punishment has an important preventive dimension, it helps to deter the public from criminal acts and at the same time prevents from re-offending.However, there are also several disadvantages of community work sentence. First of all, the penalty of community service may be imposed only with the consent of the convict. Thus, according to research carried out in Klaipėda regional probation service and Vilnius regional probation service sentenced person sometimes re-offends. It indicates that in these situations communitty service punishment doesn‘t achieve the purpose of a penalty. Finally, society expresses a negative attitude to convicted people, it eliminates them from the public schools, institutions working with the elderly do not want to accept sentenced people to perform community service punishment. According to practical application of the community service punishment in the Republic of Lithuania, in the last six years the community work sentence is more often ordered than before. Activation of its aplication coincides with the period of Lithuania economic crisis, when people chose public works sanction because they were not able to pay the fines. This penalty is usually ordered for theft and domestic violations and it is more common in male gender. [From the publication]