States of exception? Criminal justice systems and the COVID response
| DOI | 10.1177/02645505211064071 |
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
States of exception?
Criminal justice systems
and the COVID
response
This Special Issue of the journal explores the ways in which different countries
adapted probation services in response to the public health restrictions imposed
in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The issue contains contributions from
several jurisdictions including Austria, the Netherlands, England and Wales and
Scotland. A notable feature is the way probation services, like in many other
areas of life, were required to adapt rapidly to restrictions in face-to-face contact,
necessitating a move towards online modes of engagement. These included
models of ‘blended supervision’involving phone contacts and door-stop visits, video-
calls and other uses of technology. Many of the contributions to the issue note both
the potential benefits of more adaptative use of technology (including increased
compliance), and more creative approaches to supervision, as well as the down-
sides in terms of meaningful engagement.
Dominey and colleagues explore the implementation of a blended approach to
supervision in a Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) in England in the
summer of 2020 following the implementation of an Exceptional Delivery Model
(HMIP, 2020). Their research, which focused on staff experiences of the changes in
practice during this time, highlights some important findings about the blurring of
the boundaries between work and home life, in the context where most people were
required to work from home. This theme is also picked up in Phillips’and colleagues’
research of practice withinthe National Probation Service (NPS). As well as having to
adapt to different ways of working, staff found themselves in situations where they
were dealing with difficult and sensitive information in their own living spaces. This
‘work-life spill over’was particularlydifficult in the context of isolation from colleagues
and where the space to discuss ongoing challenges or seek support was diminished.
In Austria, as Stempkowski and Grafldocument,the restrictions led to similar adap-
tions, and whilemost probation staff reportedthe ability to maintain contactswith their
clients, there were challenges for some clients because of accessibility (not having a
telephone, a suitable residence, or language barriers). In the Netherlands research
with staff and supervisees conducted by Sturm andcolleagues also showed, differen-
tial impacts. Some services users found the move to online supervision to be less intru-
sive. Less of their time and money was taken up with the requirement to attend
meetings, and so some of the ‘pains of supervision’(see Durnescu, 2011), were
Editorial The Journal of Communit
y
and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2021, Vol. 68(4) 391–393
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/02645505211064071
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
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