Community Attitudes towards Community Service Programme for Offenders in Tanzania

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