Award Abstract #2030344

RAPID: Examining Community Corrections Agencies During COVID-19

NSF Directorate:
SBE - Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
NSF Division:

Division of Social and Economic Sciences

Initial Amendment Date:

Latest Amendment Date:

Award Number:

2030344

Award Instrument:

Grant

Program Manager:

Naomi Hall-Byers

Start Date:

End Date:

Awarded Amount to Date:

$129,899.00

Investigator(s):

Jill Viglione [email protected] (Principal Investigator)

Sponsor:

The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees
4000 CENTRAL FLORIDA BLVD
ORLANDO FL 328168005

NSF Program:
Law & Science
Program Reference Code(s):
096Z
7914
9102
Program Element Code(s):
128Y
Abstract:

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

The COVID-19 pandemic has created extreme challenges for community corrections agencies across the United States, a population at a high risk for infectious diseases due to a prevalence of social, economic, and behavioral risk factors. This RAPID project will measure and track agency-level responses to prevent, contain, and respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, this project will examine how community corrections (the largest arm of the corrections system) respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and balance public health and public safety. Consequently, this study will investigate the circumstances under which community supervision agencies alter their policies and procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic, while examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical and mental health of community supervision officers.

Through surveys and interviews with community supervision administrators and officers, and based on a theory of organization change, this project will take a longitudinal approach to examine how community corrections agencies adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic. These methods will enable a study of the circumstances under which community supervision agencies alter their policies and procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. This project will produce data and research results that will provide key information on the strategies agencies use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings will aid scholarship and agency decision making in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while informing the development of plans to protect the health and well-being of correctional staff and clients in future infectious disease events.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.