At Community Service Help, www.communityservicehelp.com, the brainchild of Adam Young, criminals sentenced to community service get credit for taking classes like algebra and English instead of picking up trash.
mk: I love this idea. Not only is this educating, but consider the fact that this is something that can help build a feeling of worth. Picking up trash might help the community, but doing it as punishment can feel degrading. I suppose it is punitive, but it isn't forward-thinking.As long as there is some reasonable validation, this is a good direction.