Except as otherwise provided by law, Courts of General Sessions may require defendants convicted of a criminal offense to perform public service work not to exceed five hundred hours without pay for an agency of state, county, municipal, or federal government or for a nonprofit organization as a special condition of probation or as a condition of suspension of sentence. Except as otherwise provided by law, magistrates and municipal courts may require defendants convicted of a criminal offense to perform public service work without pay for an agency of state, county, municipal, or federal government or for a nonprofit organization as a condition of suspension of sentence. This suspension of sentence shall include the number of hours of public service work to be performed not to exceed fifty hours.

The Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services shall establish by regulation pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act a definition of the term "public service work", and a mechanism for supervision of persons performing public service work.

No person shall be made ineligible for this program by reason of gender.

HISTORY: 1986 Act No. 462, Section 11; 1988 Act No. 480, Section 17; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 481.