Access to Social Support Exchange while on Probation and Parole

• In Event: The Role of Community, Employment, Housing, and Social Support in Promoting Probation and Parole Success

Abstract

Research demonstrates individuals on community supervision tend to rely on others for and provide social support to manage the challenges and conditions of community supervision. Many criminological theories incorporate elements of social support, but less is known about the mechanisms underpinning social support exchange. Given the importance of social support exchange for criminological theory and policy, I use qualitative interview data from people on probation and parole in Missouri to explore how they access social support exchange. Findings suggest theoretical explanations of social support exchange should be expanded to account for the diversity in support sources and exchange methods. Participants in this study typically relied on their family members, as opposed to romantic partners, and sometimes pieced together support from many friends and acquaintances in the absence of family. Probation and parole officers also played a key support role, but their support was overshadowed by the fact that they could implement sanctions if participants were honest about their struggles with compliance. Policy efforts should be structured to support more equitable social service distribution for persons on community supervision because their livelihood can depend on the precarious and piecemeal support of informal relationships and individual probation and parole officer approaches.

Author

• Andrea Giuffre, California State University, San Bernardino