Those Orange Vests

Participants with Bronx Community Solutions own service program, "Crew 1" usually wear orange safety vests. We find that they're useful for safety, supervision, and most importantly for making community justice visible - so people can see that offenders are "paying back" in their own neighborhood.

Apparently jurisdictions in Great Britain are introducing the practice (starting today) and it has both vocal supporters and detractors. UPI has now picked the story up:

"Brits get bibs for community service"

LONDON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The British Ministry of Justice said criminals sentenced to perform community service will be required to wear identifying orange bibs starting Monday.

Officials said the high visibility bibs, which will be required for convicts performing physical labor, will bear the words "community payback" on the front and back to make clear to the public that they are performing court-ordered service hours, The Times of London reported Friday.

"We will be launching the jackets on Monday. We agree with the public, who strongly believe that justice must be done, but also seen to be done," the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.

The new community payback uniforms were recommended by Louise Casey, the former head of the British government's Respect Task Force, as part of a plan to boost public confidence in the British justice system.

However, the move was sharply criticized by the National Association of Probation Officers, which said the identifying bibs would leave the convicts open to vigilante attacks.

"NAPO believes that making the individuals more prominent will increase the risk of violent attacks and provocation," the association said in a statement. "In addition, negative reaction by individuals forced to wear the labeled clothing may lead to either aggressive responses to the requirement or refusal to work."

Here's coverage on the BBC.

Here's an editorial in the Gaurdian.

And an article in the Herald & Post.

I asked a few folks with experience supervising offenders performing community service what they thought. Have a look at their opinions in the comments section of this post.