Does Celeb Community Service Help Anyone?

Caroline Giuliani is the latest in a long line of celebrities and semi-celebrities to be sentenced to community service (in Giuliani’s case, a whopping one day for shoplifting). But does community service do any good? Yes, writes Constance Casey on Slate, explaining that community service is a popular sentence for those “unlikely to commit another crime.” It helps local nonprofits or government facilities by guaranteeing workers who “are very likely to turn up on time and put in the hours.”

And it’s not a joke: “It is still forced, menial, unpaid labor,” and it’s usually given alongside a fine and probation. How have past celebs carried out their sentences? Naomi Campbell mopped and swept a Sanitation Department facility, Chris Brown cleared weeds at police horse stables, Snoop Dogg worked with a youth football league, and Lindsay Lohan worked at a Red Cross blood center.