The Spillover Effects of Community-Based Correctional Supervision: Network Inequality and Third-Party Control

• In Event: 30662 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 7: Carceral State

Abstract

Research Summary
Community-based supervision has wide-reaching implications for individuals under correctional control and their personal social networks. Social ties are often mobilized to provide emotional and tangible support, severed to comply with supervision requirements (e.g., avoiding relationships with individuals who have felony convictions), or altered due to the stigma associated with a felony conviction. Extant research addresses some aspects of social dynamics with parents, peers, and romantic partners. However, a network perspective is needed to advance research on peripheral ties and social resources. This study employs egocentric social network methods and qualitative narratives to examine the resources provided by network members and the conditions under which ties are nominated as the most or least supportive. Data were collected through in-person interviews with 156 women with felony convictions, focusing on their 985 network members. Findings underscore network and resource inequality, as well as the ways in which community-based correctional supervision requirements can deplete marginalized networks of limited resources and enable estranged ties to exploit features of the criminal legal system.

Policy Implications
Findings from this study highlight the need for policy interventions that account for network inequality among individuals under community-based correctional supervision and impede estranged and unsupportive network members from sabotaging supervision compliance. Disparities in social capital can create inequitable pathways for successful supervision and reentry, placing undue strain on core and kinship ties while limiting access to necessary resources. To mitigate these challenges, policymakers should consider integrating tools that enable probation and parole officers to assess and respond to clients' social capital deficits. Additionally, practices should incorporate safeguards against false accusations to ensure supervisees are not unfairly penalized due to network dynamics and acknowledge systemic barriers that limit social support for marginalized groups.

Authors

• Marva Goodson, Arizona State University

• Kayla Marie Hoskins, Michigan State University

• Teairstayn Jones, Arizona State University