CSO... One size fits all (or almost): A sociological perspective of the Community Service Order in Australia

Abstract

This thesis is a sociological study of the development and diversification of a relatively recent penal sanction and one which is an alternative sentence to imprisonment, namely, the Australian community service order. The sociological analysis to which this development and diversification is subjected operates at three distinct levels: macro, middle, and micro. This thesis functions at the middle level or range of theory, by providing a synthesis of classical positions in sociology. The central contention of this thesis is that all three levels of sociological analysis - macro, middle, and micro - are necessary for an understanding of the institution of the community service order, or any other institution of the Australian criminal justice system. Further, this thesis further argues that there is no single event or cause that can explain why the community service order came into existence as a non-prison alternative sentence when it did. The community service order became an 'acceptable' alternative due to a combination of macro elements (such as political ideologies, and social control) that operated to bring about major changes in public attitudes towards imprisonment. The community service order's highly diverse nature can be explained, at the middle level of sociological analysis, by showing that governments of the various Australian jurisdictions, their bureaucracies, the judiciary, and elements of the general community found a number of different needs and uses, over time, for the community service order scheme. The capacity for the community service order scheme to 'work' under diverse circumstances can be largely explained, at the micro level, by reference to the work of Homans on ’social behaviour as exchange’ and Tarde's 'diffusion of innovations' thesis. Show more