Probationary services in a pandemic. Results from an empirical study in Austria

AuthorMonika Stempkowski,Christian Grafl
Published date01 December 2021
Date01 December 2021
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/02645505211050863
Probationary services
in a pandemic. Results
from an empirical study
in Austria
Monika Stempkowski
and Christian Gra
University of Vienna, Austria
Abstract
In March 2020 the rst lockdown due to COVID-19 was imposed in Austria, forcing
NEUSTART, the organisation providing probationary services, to adapt the way of
interacting with their clients. An online survey was conducted examining how these
changes affected the everyday work of the probation ofcers. Results indicated that
they managed to stay in contact with their clients, although difculties could be
observed concerning specic groups. Further questions concerned areas such as
domestic violence, strains due to the restrictions experienced as well as coping stra-
tegies used by the clients. Concerning the well-being of the probation ofcers, differ-
ences were found between residents of urban and rural areas respectively as well as
between people living with or without children. The lack of personal contact with cli-
ents and colleagues proved to be the most important source of discomfort, while at the
same time working from home entailed certain advantages.
Keywords
probation, parole, pandemic, covid-19, restriction, Austria, NEUSTART
Introduction
Due to the increasing number of people with a conrmed Coronavirus infection,
social restrictions came into force in Austria on 16 March 2020. These restrictions
Corresponding Author:
Monika Stempkowski, Department for Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Vienna,
Schenkenstraße 4, 1010 Vienna, Austria.
Email: monika.stempkowski@univie.ac.at
Article The Journal of Communit
y
and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2021, Vol. 68(4) 444457
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/02645505211050863
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb

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