This chapter shall be known as the Mississippi Community Service Restitution Act. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an alternative method of punishment in cases in which the defendant would have otherwise been sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
If a determination is made to use the community service sentence, the defendant must agree to and accept the determination. Any defendant who is sentenced to the community service restitution program shall receive a conditional discharge from the presiding court and shall be sentenced to perform a certain number of hours of unpaid community service, […]
Upon sentencing to the community service restitution program, the judge shall instruct the defendant as to what the sentence would have been had he or she not been placed in the community service restitution program, and shall inform the defendant as to consequences of failure to perform the community service sentence.
If the court imposes the community service sentence, a written agreement shall be immediately executed by the defendant and the Department of Corrections representative. The agreement shall contain such provisions and conditions as the Department of Corrections and the court shall deem just and appropriate.
Upon failure to complete the community service sentence, the case shall be restored to the court calendar for resentencing and a warrant for the arrest of the defendant shall immediately be issued.
This alternative method of punishment shall be available only in circuit court districts where the Department of Corrections Commissioner certifies that such a program exists, can be enforced and that space is available in such program.
Any defendant who qualifies for participation as set out in this chapter, shall be entitled to participate in a community service restitution program. Any convicted defendant who, having been sentenced prior to July 1, 1983, and who qualifies for participation in the program herein established, may petition the circuit court of the county of his […]
In order to qualify for participation in a community service restitution program, the defendant must: (a) be a first offender, (b) be convicted of a nonviolent offense that would constitute a felony and (c) not have drug, alcohol or emotional problems so serious that he or she appears unlikely to be able to meet the […]
Department of Corrections personnel shall review the incoming files in the office of district attorney in the circuit court district in which they are operating, to determine which, if any, of the persons charged are eligible for participation in the community service restitution program.
When a case appears to meet the eligibility criteria established in Section 99-20-5, the Department of Corrections representative shall notify the district attorney of that district and the defense attorney. The Department of Corrections representative, the district attorney and the defense attorney shall request the court to sentence the defendant to the community service restitution […]
