Introduction.; 1. History of Circles.; 2. Sexual abuse and sex offenders.; 3. The management of sex offenders.; 4. Circles in practice.; 5. But does it work? Evidence and evaluation.; 6. Public perceptions and media reactions to sex offending.
A Circle of Support and Accountability is a group of trained volunteers who meet on a regular basis with a high risk sex offender living in their community. This pioneering approach, based on restorative justice principles, holds the offender accountable and provides them with care and support to prevent reoffending. This is the first book on this innovative and proven method of managing the behaviour of sex offenders in the community. It provides an overview of sexual abuse, sex offenders and their management, and the Circles approach. The authors set out the development of Circles since they were first started in Canada, the principles of Circles and how they work in practice, and evidence and evaluation of their effectiveness. Testimonies from five sex offenders and four volunteers are included, detailing how and why they joined a Circle, their experiences, and the effects. This unique book on a ground-breaking approach to managing sex offenders will be of great interest to professionals across social care and the criminal justice system, including prison and probation services, the police, social workers, counsellors and all those working with sex offenders.