You may get a community sentence if you are convicted of a crime by a court but are not sent to prison.
You may have to do unpaid work in your local community, like removing graffiti. This is called Community Payback.
Community sentences can be given for crimes such as:
damaging property
benefit fraud
assault
You may get a community sentence if:
the court thinks you are more likely to stop committing crime than if you go to prison
it is the first time you have committed a crime
you have a mental health condition that affects your behaviour
See also:
Additional information on community sentences can be found on GOV.UK's website.