Article
Adaptations to COVID-19 in Community Corrections Agencies across the United States
Victims & Offenders
(2020)
Abstract
Currently, there are more than 4.3 million Americans are under some form of community supervision. Much of the experience of traditional community supervision relies on face-to-face interactions. Individuals on supervision often require treatment or services typically delivered in face-to-face settings. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced community corrections’ agencies to quickly rethink how they do business, with limited existing research on how to adapt supervision protocols in the midst of a global pandemic. Using surveys of directors of community corrections’ agencies across the United States, the goal of the current study was to examine how community corrections’ agencies have adapted traditional supervision processes to address disease prevention and containment in addition to supporting client needs and community safety as a result of COVID-19. Changes implemented during the pandemic may have implications for the future landscape of community supervision. Understanding how and what agencies prioritize in a time of global crisis can provide a foundation for identifying sustainable changes as well as understanding future impacts on system and client-level outcomes.
Keywords
- community corrections,
- COVID-19,
- parole,
- probation,
- pandemic,
- alternatives to incarceration,
- early release mechanisms,
- prison reform
Disciplines
Publication Date
October 21, 2020
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2020.1818153
Citation Information
Jill Viglione, Lucas M. Alward, Ashley Lockwood and Sara Bryson. "Adaptations to COVID-19 in Community Corrections Agencies across the United States" Victims & Offenders Vol. 15 Iss. 7-8 (2020) p. 1277 - 1297 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/lucas-alward/11/