Summary
Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed on a voluntary basis and may be compulsory. While individual benefits may be realized, they may be performed for a variety of reasons, including citizenship requirements, alternatives to criminal justice sanctions, school or class requirements, and requisites to obtain certain benefits. Community service is a non-paying job performed by one person or a group of people for the benefit of their community or its institutions. Community service is distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed on a voluntary basis. It may be performed for a variety of reasons. It may be required by a government as a part of citizenship requirements, like the mandatory "Hand and hitch-up services" for some municipalities in Germany, or generally in lieu of military service or for civil conscription services. It may be required as a substitution of, or in addition to, other criminal justice sanctions – when performed for this reason it may also be referred to as community payback or compensatory service. It may be mandated by schools to meet the requirements of a class, such as in the case of service-learning or to meet the requirements of graduating as class valedictorian. In the UK, it has been made a condition of the receipt of certain benefits. (see Workfare in the United Kingdom) In Sweden it is a suspended sentence called "samhällstjänst" ("society service"). Some educational jurisdictions in the United States require students to perform community service hours to graduate from high school. In some high schools in Washington, for example, students must finish 200 hours of community service to get a diploma. Some school districts in Washington, including Seattle Public Schools, differentiate between community service and "service learning", requiring students to demonstrate that their work has contributed to their education.
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