The Power of Friendship: Social Networks & Their Impact on Women with Felony Convictions

Written by: Alondra Alamillo

Jen was released on probation and placed under community supervision instead of serving her full sentence term. In the days following her intake, her probation officer will begin by assessing her level of risk. This is done to determine how much, what type, and the duration of the intervention needed through a risk-assessment tool. During this initial interview, Jen was asked questions about her peers, family, and romantic partners that ultimately helped predict if these associations would help or hinder Jen during her supervision. Social relationships are just one of the many important factors considered that impact societal reintegration after incarceration. Though it seems simple, Jen’s success lies in how strong her social network is.

A Successful Reintegration 

When examining the barriers people face as they return to their community after incarceration, researchers will often look at variables that directly impact their ability to sustain themselves and prevent future reincarceration. In such cases, people will often look to their social network for support (Berg & Huebner, 2010), as their probation requires many terms to be met to avoid having it revoked, including: acquiring and maintaining employment, community service, staying sober, paying court fees on time, attending treatment classes if needed, and any other additional special conditions aimed toward addressing criminal thinking and behavior. During this stressful time, people rely heavily on their personal network to comply with all new expectations, especially if the community resources set to help with reintegration are limited. 

The role social dynamics play in reintegration during community supervision is a topic of interest for researchers seeking to inform the public and prison systems about what types of relationships can facilitate that. In Goodson (2025), an egocentric social network analysis (ESN) method was employed to map out participants’ relationships and analyze the composition of the relationships, causal effects of having that person in the network, and the function of the social dynamics for women. Particularly, this study sought to analyze the mobilization of support for women on community supervision or the lack thereof throughout their relationship network. Social ties that did not equate in mobilization of support could be considered examples of relationships that do not benefit women who are trying to stay compliant in their probation. 

Given Goodson's focus on establishing the importance of “social capital" in relationships for justice-involved women, more specifically women with past felony convictions, the study primarily draws attention to resources embedded in certain social dynamics, proving more valuable than others when looking for a successful probation (Goodson, 2025). For instance, as women were interviewed about the social ties in their network, their network’s social capital was assessed by their occupation, prestige and additional resources they would have access to. This process provided solid groundwork to eventually break down the proximity of these relationships and what they mean for probationers’ success. 

The Social Network

The effects of social capital vary depending on how close people are to the participant; however, not all names collected during the interview process belong in their “core” social group. According to Goodson (2025), these ranges could be divided into different layers. The outer layer of a participant’s social network is made up of groups that the participant generally belongs to, such as organizations. The intermediate layer consists of any relationship where the participant has bonds, including friends and coworkers. Finally, the innermost layer includes people who are bound to the participant, like romantic partners and immediate family. The frequency of interaction, how information from these social actors flows, and weaker social ties were also collected in order to see how the mobilization of support was working and in what specific areas of the participants’ groups it was happening. 

Participants who were found to have a really close community imply two important things. First, if many members in different domains and proximities in her life (family, coworkers, neighbors) all know each other, this decreases the amount of resources and diverse information that can flow in her direction. Job postings shared with the participant while she is looking for employment in order to meet that requirement of probation, could be very limited if everyone in her network knows about the same jobs. On the other hand, participants who have more diversified networks have access to more information (Goodson, 2025). In fact, Foster and Maas’ (2014) study recommends the addition of this tool in the initial interview with the probationer to assess what type of network the probationer has in order to support them as needed. 

A person on probation must also comply with staying away from peers who are predicted to increase their criminal thinking and behavior. In the initial risk assessment, these can be concluded through criminal records. As meetings with their probation officer progress, antisocial peers are also noted if they interfere with the probationers progress or if they are believed to be a hindering influence. Goodson also touches on the idea of “estranged ties” as part of a participant's network that do not necessarily have to be criminal peers but are definitely people probationers need to distance themselves from.

Conclusion

Since community resources are often limited for probationers to help guide them through this process, they tend to rely on their probation officer for information about how to find employment, education opportunities, or help meeting their basic needs such as transportation, housing, public assistance, and more. People who are not able to diversify and expand their network are doing a great disservice to themselves as a result. Programs that aim at connecting the community with different professionals, people in their area, and mobilizing support could mean the difference between a person completing their probation or failing it.

References 

Berg, M. T., & Huebner, B. M. (2010). Reentry and the Ties that Bind: An Examination of Social Ties, Employment, and Recidivism. Justice Quarterly, 28(2), 382–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2010.498383

Foster, K. A., & Maas, C. D. (2014). An Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Resource Generator-United States: a social capital measure. The British Journal of Social Work, 46(1), 8–26. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcu111

Goodson, M. V. (2025). Refining the Measurement of Social Dynamics and Centering Social Capital Research in Corrections. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 52(3), 487-498. https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241310851 (Original work published 2025)

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