Community Service is a form of an alternative to imprisonment where Committers of minor, or non-serious offences are made to give mandatory services to their communities instead of being sentenced to prisons. The programme is focused on decongestion of the prison population by advocating for and ensuring that offenders of minor offences are not sentenced to prison custody. This is an alternative to traditional imprisonment for all offences that has been onfor years.

On November 3^rd2011, a 21 person committee consisting of Legislators, the Police, Correctional Officers, Academicians, Government ministries and Parastatals, Civil SocietyOrganizations and the Media came together with the aim of enacting a Community Service Law in Oyo State to see to the reduction of Overcrowding in Custodial centres.

In October 2016,the Community Service Punishment Law (CSPL) of Oyo State was passed. It helpedwith the following:

·  The CSPL was passed to help decongest prisons in Oyo State. 
· The law was passed after a period of legislative advocacy and lobbying.
· TheCSPL is used by magistrates and presidents of grade "A" customarycourts in Oyo State.
·  The law was passed in conjunction     with the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Oyo State. 

After the Community Service Punishment Law was passed, JDPC Ibadan met with the Magistrates, Presidents of Grade ‘A’ customary courts in Oyo State and other stakeholders to inform them about the law and established a proper Feedback session. In one of our meetings, certain gaps were noted.
·  No Psychosocial support for theoffenders
·  No functioning data bank.
·  No jobs for some of theseoffenders leading to the offences in the first place.

Outcome

A Psychosocial Support Group (PSG) consisting of Community Service Officers, Magistrates, and Presidents of Customary Court Grade ‘A’, JDPC Ibadan, Asido Foundation, Correctional officers, the Ministry of women Affairs and The Counselling Association of Nigeria was formed and led to the establishment of Counselling centres across Magistrate Courts in Oyo State with Counsellors on ground to attend to offenders and help them rediscover purpose and carry out their sentencing with a repentant heart.
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JDPC Ibadan paid a courtesy visit to the National Directorate of Employment both in Ibadan and Abuja to discuss the issue of job opportunities as a means to reduce minor offences among the youthful population of Oyo State.  

THE NON-CUSTODIAL SENTENCING LAW OF OYO STATE.

The aforementioned Civil Society Organizations, Government agencies and Parastatals, the correctional services, the ministry of Justice on the instruction of the Executive Governor of Oyo State, His Excellency Oluseyi Abiodun Makinde converged to put together the Non-custodial sentencing bill of Oyo state. Having passed three readings has been passed into law in 2023 by the 9^th assembly of the Oyo state House of Assembly.

THE TRAIN GOES TO OTHER STATES.

News of the sesuccess stories reached far and wide.  The Organization had training sessions in Kwara state with their magistrates and presidents of their courts. The Kaduna state Judiciary also paid a learning visitto the organization in 2024 with the aim of domesticating the scheme in theirState.

A DATA BANK OF OFFENDERS IS ESTABLISHED.

With the aid of our Data Bank we’ve been able to track offenders from inception till date and the rate of repeat offenders/recidivism has been very low. Below is a table of data representing the number of offenders that have successfully served their Community Service.

Finally, the scheme has been adopted by the Kwara State Judiciary and other south west states also takes a cue from the institutionalization of this scheme to aid better administration of their Criminal Justice System.