Risk and refuge: Factors that facilitate and impede community supervision in post-conflict Northern Ireland

Abstract

Community sanctions often require the coordination of support between probation staff and a range of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Despite these burgeoning partnerships, few studies have explored the experiences of such support in settings where community spaces and structures remain contested, where violence remains endemic; and where paramilitary influence endures. This explorative study captured the voices of justice involved young men to understand the barriers and facilitators of accessing support intended to reduce the latent criminogenic effects of living in a post-conflict society. This study found that young men experienced ecological stressors known to increase criminal coping. Exposure to paramilitary-related harms and a lack of trust in police as well as local NGOs had a tangible effect on support seeking. Further, adherence to traditional masculine norms exacerbated these issues. Practical implications are discussed.