Navigating Complex Relationships: Support Networks Among Women in Community Corrections

• Published date: 01 November 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241262418
• Author: India Luxton,Tara Opsal
• Date: 01 November 2024

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2024, Vol. 51, No. 11, November 2024, 1654 –1677.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241262418

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2024 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1654

NAVIGATING COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS

Support Networks Among Women in Community

Corrections

INDIA LUXTON

TARA OPSAL

Colorado State University

In this article, we explored the social networks of 20 women who were in the process, or had completed, a sentence at a

residential community corrections facility. Drawing on egocentric social network data and in-depth qualitative interviews, we

analyzed the kinds of support that were most and least available to women, who were members of their network and what

type of support they provided, and the role of complex relationships and peers. We found that women often relied on complex

relationships and strategically navigated these relationships to access support. Many women also expressed a desire to mend

and heal damaged relationships, recognizing their significance in their support system. Although peers can play a critical role

in providing support to system-involved women, community corrections must invest in facilitating supportive connections

and relationships among women. Ultimately, this research offers insights that can guide community corrections organizations

in building and repairing women’s networks.

Keywords: community corrections; female offenders; qualitative methods; women; desistance; peer influence; social support

INTRODUCTION

A notable body of research establishes the important role that social networks play in the

lives of women who are sentenced to serve time in our criminal-legal system. One impor-

tant aspect of networks is that they provide different types of social support that shape

women’s experiences while incarcerated (Clone & DeHart, 2014), foster reentry from

prison back into the community (Bui & Morash, 2010; Cobbina, 2010), and can ulti-

mately pave pathways to desistance (Andersen, 2018; Chouhy et al., 2020). To under-

stand social networks alongside the social support they contain and their impacts,

researchers have often relied strictly on qualitative interviews. Samples often focus on

AUTHORS’ NOTE: This project was supported by the Justice Assistance Grant Program (2020-MU-BX-

0029) awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Correspondence concerning this article should be

addressed to Tara Opsal, Department of Sociology, Colorado State University, 1100 Meridian Avenue, Building

A, Fort Collins, CO 80523; e-mail: tara.opsal@colostate.edu.

1262418CJBXXX10.1177/00938548241262418Criminal Justice and BehaviorLuxton, Opsal / Short Title

research-article2024

CORRECTION (SEPTEMBER 2024): Article updated online to correct author Tara Opsal’s affiliation.

Luxton, Opsal / NAVIGATING COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS 1655

women who are incarcerated or recently released from prison. As a result, less research

examines these outcomes or dynamics in the context of community corrections: a diverse

set of programs that oversee individuals convicted of some kind of crime outside of jail or

prison. This is an important gap to consider given that community corrections is a central

arm of the legal system. In 2020, 3.9 million adults in the United States—or 1 in 66 peo-

ple—were serving a probation or parole sentence while the state incarcerated about 1.7

million in state or federal prisons or local jails (Kluckow & Zeng, 2022). This means that

nearly 70% of those serving a sentence were doing so in the community. Importantly, this

difference is gendered with 85% of women serving a probation or parole sentence (The

Sentencing Project, 2022).

Research on networks of system-involved women also establishes that social networks

are certainly not panaceas and are complex and dynamic. As we discuss at length in the next

section, networks often consist of people who are caught up in the system, sources of trauma

or abuse, or provide easy access to illegal drugs (Goodson, 2018; Rodermond et al., 2016).

Researchers have identified these as “negative ties” and illuminated how they can be sources

of physical abuse, emotional trauma, and also serve as pathways back into illegal activities

and deeper system involvement (Leverentz, 2006; Salisbury & Van Voorhis, 2009). As harm

to familial relationships and friendships can result from these behaviors (Liu & Visher,

2019), social networks likely consist of relationships that need mending to fully realize their

supportive potential.

The findings we present in this article contribute to this research by adding to our limited

understanding of the form and function of women’s social networks who serve time on

community corrections. A disproportionate number of women serve a community-based

sentence for drug-related and property offenses (Greenfeld & Snell, 1999)—offenses which

likely have shaped, and been shaped by, their social network. Like others (Goodson, 2018;

Schaefer et al., 2021), we use qualitative data and focus on women’s own accounts of how

they view their social networks: both who is in them and the support available while serving

a community-based sentence. We build on this research in several ways. First, we pay par-

ticular attention to the role of peers in women’s networks since community corrections

programming—especially those with a strong case management or residential focus—is

uniquely positioned to grow or limit the development of these kinds of relationships.

Second, we focus on understanding the nature and possibilities of complex relationships.

We illustrate how women think about their own network relationships that the literature

typically defines as “negative” and those women self-identify as in need of repair. For both,

we describe the extent to which women view these ties as part of their network and the

kinds of support they provide. We use social network analysis alongside our interview data

to analyze the composition of women’s social networks and provide useful practice impli-

cations for community corrections organizations regarding strategies to build and repair

networks.

LITERATURE REVIEW

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS IN THE LIVES OF WOMEN WHO ARE SYSTEM-INVOLVED

Examining and understanding the form and function of social networks in the lives of

system-involved women is critical for a variety of reasons. Qualitative interviews with

women who are or were recently incarcerated illuminate that social networks are direct