accept the care of children while NGOs and Churches have 40. The latter are concentrated in the urban areas. Each of the 10 administrative provinces has at least one home. There are about 3,000 juveniles in all the institutions. If a child under 18 is arrested, the Police refer the case to the Department of Social Welfare if investigation and custody when necessary. Reports on the child compiled by the Department help the court decide on an appropriate sentence for him/her. The 200 officers of the Department throughout the country are all probation officers. The release of the child to the parents may be recommended by the Department get involved with the parents in the supervision of the child. One of the recommendations may be the caning of the child. Juveniles are detained for a maximum of 3 years during which they will be educated. Those who are beyond the control of social workers are kept in a juvenile wing of prisons. Such must have been the case of 7 convicted juveniles who were at Kadoma Prison. Community service currently in operation in Zimbabwe has not been extended to cover juveniles although the Social Welfare Department is involved in the community service with magistrates. Community based care of children has been tried in Zimbabwe. 11,000 children have been identified within this context as requiring care. A prominent category among them are orphans. In a district in Mashingo Province the Department of Social Welfare tried to revive the community's interest in looking after children in need. Community service Concerned about overcrowding in prisons resort was had to community service. It started in 1994, and a success rate of 90% is claimed, and the scheme is catching on. Opening the High Court Session in February 1997, Chidyausiku J. exhorted judges to impose non-custodial sentence as far as possible (Sunday Mail 22 February 1997). A National Committee on Community Service first constituted in 1992 by the Minister of Justice originally had representatives from a number of ministries. Presently it consists of a High Court Judge, the Commissioner of Prisons, a representative of ODA, Chief Magistrate of the biggest Magisterial district and representatives from the Ministry of Social Welfare, Police and non- governmental organisations such as Prison Fellowship, Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender and Legal Resource Foundation. The National Committee on Community Service meets once a month on the last Thursday in each month. At a lower level a District Committee composed of the local or provincial magistrate, representatives of the Police, Prison, Local NGOs, Civil leaders as well as representatives from the Ministry of Social Welfare supervise the service. Funded for the first 18 months with the funds from the European Union, ODA provided the funds for a similar period thereafter with effect from August 1997 the Government of Zimbabwe will take it over. Community Service operates throughout the country, and relies for its successful