Teen walloped with 140 hours of community service
A teen-ager who failed to do what she was told will have a long time to think about how to take direction as she was sentenced recently to perform 140 hours public service work.
The defendant, whose name was not revealed by authorities due to the fact she is 17 and a juvenile, was directed by Juvenile Court Judge Larry Ross this week to perform 140 hours community service work. The punishment comes after the teen, who had been kicked out of public school, failed to attend GED classes to get her high school equivalency diploma as ordered by the court.
The sentence is to perform one day of public service work for each hour of classes she missed. The teen said only she “had problems” when she appeared before Judge Ross to explain why she did not do as she was ordered by the court, to which the judge responded everyone “has problems” but they still take responsibility for their actions.
Public service work is often handed out in minor cases, especially in juvenile court where community service work is a staple of punishment for youthful offenders in cases ranging from speeding to non-violent delinquency. Service work can range from cleaning cages at the animal shelter to scrubbing windows at the county offices.
While public service sentences are common, generally given out in increments of eight and 16 hours, the 140 hours is believed to be a record number here. Broken down, the 140 hours constitutes 17.5 eight-hour work days. If she performs four hours a day, it will take 35 days to work off the sentence.