Of course the area in which a judge does have some latitude, and apparently where this judge has exercised it in the examples given, would be where probation and "community service" are specified as acceptable dispositions. The judge usually has the option of approving, if not of specifying the "service" to be performed.

The kid with the sign identifying the difference between a cop and a pig is performing his "community service" by educating others so that they will know the difference and won't repeat the same mistake he made. If he's also (hopefully) embarrassed, that's a fringe benefit.

It's a little difficult to see what community service was performed by the lady spending the night in the woods, but if she'd been ordered to collect 40 pounds of trash (one pound per cat) and to do it in the dark, it might have worked more effectively within this interpretation.

John