To read this content please select one of the options below:

The impact of the pandemic on probation: lessons for the future

Jake Phillips (Department of Law and Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University – Collegiate Crescent Campus, Sheffield, UK)

Safer Communities

ISSN: 1757-8043

Article publication date: 14 April 2022

Issue publication date: 6 May 2022

180

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which probation services responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and to consider what this means for the future of probation.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a literature review approach. Published research about the impact of the pandemic on probation services around the world was identified. Key findings around the main ways in which probation services were affected are identified.

Findings

The key themes identified in the published research are the strengths and weaknesses of remote communication, the role of probation in efforts to reduce the prison population, the importance of social support and marginalisation and the impact on staff. These findings are then examined through McNeill’s (2018) argument that systems of community punishment should be parsimonious, productive and proportionate.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first paper to synthesise international research on the impact of the pandemic on probation and thus serves as a useful starting point for future work on how probation services might learn from the pandemic.

Keywords

Citation

Phillips, J. (2022), "The impact of the pandemic on probation: lessons for the future", Safer Communities, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 112-122. https://doi.org/10.1108/SC-11-2021-0047

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles