I'm not sure it's supposed to deter people from anything.
Some people may decide to get paid work, if they can, rather than put up with working for nothing. Possibly gets some people 'out of a rut'.
It is the rip off you think it is
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It shows teenagers how immoral their so called elders and betters can be and are - and warns them of what is to come
There are experiences which are awful
and experiences with an "X" - you dont need them in any shape or form. Child murder springs to mind or people being run down on zebra crossings. This is another
Nothing to do with experience. It's unpaid work (community service). If you have a full time job you have to also fit in 'X' amount of hours on top of that. Litter picking, graffiti removal, tedious jobs like that.
They have to attend in groups wearing a Hi-vis which identifies them as offenders (round here anyway) It's disrupting and humiliating.
I think the punishment is meant to be two-fold; taking away the 'leisure time' of those sentenced - giving them less time to get up to no good - and the shame of wearing those hi-viz jackets with 'Community Payback' emblazoned upon them.