Social Net Conferencing

NEUSTART

Is a non-profit organisation, set up as an association, funded by the Austrian Ministry of Justice. NEUSTART provides probation services in Austria.

In addition, NEUSTART offers social work services in the fields of electronic home detention, victim-offender mediation, after-care services and community services.

Since 2014, NEUSTART has also offered social net conferences, and therefore this method is also financed by the Ministry of Justice.

Type of Organisation: Other

Social net conferencing offers offenders in prison the chance to develop a mandatory plan for their future after their release. Offenders work together with their social network (or net) to create this plan, which is then sent to the judge, who issues orders according to the plan, at the trial. The probation officer supervises compliance with the orders, and therefore also implementation of the plan.

The method benefits radicalised individuals by helping them develop a strategy or plan covering daily life, work, housing and so on, alongside their social network and associated professionals.

The social net conference is organised by one or two coordinators, who set up the meeting between radicalised individuals and their social nets. Under the social net conference and the plan developed, radicalised individuals are obliged to fulfil the conditions of the plan. In this way, the individual's return to radicalised environments can be prevented — initiating a change for the better.

The probation officer participates in the conference, and formulates the main concerns in terms of release and recidivism. The plan should address these concerns.

• Hofinger, V., & Schmidinger, T. (2017). Deradikalisierung im Gefängnis. Wien, Institute for the Sociology of Law and Criminology. Retrieved from http://www.irks.at/assets/irks/Publikationen/Forschungsbericht/ Endbericht_Begleitforschung_2017.pdf
• Grafl et al. (2014). Evaluationsstudie zum Projekt Sozialnetz-Konferenz in der Bewährungshilfe, Abschlussbericht.

Address

NEUSTART
Castelligasse 17
1050 Wien,
Austria

Contact person: Bernd Glaeser
Telephone: (+43) 154 595 601 201
bernd [dot] glaeserneustart [dot] at (Email) | Website