Swiss Criminal Code

¹ If it is not an­ti­cip­ated that the of­fend­er will ab­scond or com­mit fur­ther of­fences, the fol­low­ing sen­tences may be served in the form of com­munity ser­vice:

a.

a cus­todi­al sen­tence of no more than six months;

b.

the re­mainder of a sen­tence of no more than six months after tak­ing ac­count of time spent on re­mand; or

c.

a mon­et­ary pen­alty or a fine.

² Com­munity ser­vice is not per­mit­ted as a means of serving an al­tern­at­ive cus­todi­al sen­tence.

³ Com­munity ser­vice is work that be­ne­fits so­cial in­sti­tu­tions, pub­lic works or per­sons in need. The work is un­paid.

⁴ Four hours of com­munity ser­vice cor­res­pond to one day of a cus­todi­al sen­tence, one daily pen­alty unit of a mon­et­ary pen­alty or one day of an al­tern­at­ive cus­todi­al sen­tence in the case of con­tra­ven­tions.

⁵ The ex­ec­ut­ive au­thor­ity shall al­low the of­fend­er a spe­cif­ic peri­od not ex­ceed­ing two years with­in which to com­plete the com­munity ser­vice. In the case of com­munity ser­vice car­ried out in lieu of a fine, this peri­od may not ex­ceed one year.

⁶ If the of­fend­er fails to com­ply with the con­di­tions of com­munity ser­vice im­posed by the ex­ec­ut­ive au­thor­ity des­pite be­ing warned to do so, the cus­todi­al sen­tence shall be served in the nor­mal man­ner or in the form of semi-de­ten­tion, or the mon­et­ary pen­alty or fine shall be en­forced.