Circles of Support

Circles of Support and Accountability is a restorative justice scheme aimed at maintaining public safety by reducing offending and preventing harm from sex offenders in the UK. Paul Whitehouse, formerly Chief Constable of Sussex and now Vice-Chair of Nacro, the Crime Reduction Charity, tells Police Professional about the scheme that has seen re-offending significantly reduced in Canada.

“Public protection would be more difficult, more challenging and more dangerous without the Circles service” (Detective Chief Inspector Steve Neale, Thames Valley Police).

This country often looks across the Atlantic to see whether there are new ideas to make life better over here. Most recently, the Home Secretary announced that he would be sending a Minister to look at the effect of Megan`s Law in the USA.

This followed a newspaper campaign to introduce the same law over here (Sarah`s Law). Yet there is no evidence that Megan`s law reduces offending, although it does help to trace offenders after the event.

On the other hand, there are in this country working examples of Circles of Support and Accountability, a system started in Canada in response to exactly the same problem, which have demonstrated that re-offending can be significantly reduced. So what are Circles and why should Police be informed about them?

Circles` prime purpose is to maintain Public Safety by reducing offending, and to do so cost-effectively. They do so by using carefully selected, trained, and most of all properly supported volunteers to work with the professionals whose duty it is to maintain public safety in their area. It`s an area where the Home Office, which has funded schemes in the UK, can claim success!

History

The idea for Circles of Support and Accountability originated in Ontario. It was developed in 1994 to address the situation where dangerous sex offenders were released from prison at the end of their sentence, and left with no support or supervision. There was a sense of fear and powerlessness within the community when dangerous prisoners were released.

Groups of individuals, mainly churchgoers, responded by spontaneously forming small groups, or circles, around a particular offender.

From this informal beginning, a project, based on the principles of restorative justice was set up funded by Correctional Service of Canada and administered by the Mennonite Church. There are now more than 50 projects operating in Canada, where public protection professionals are convinced that the scheme works. Here`s Lucie McClung, Commissioner of Correctional Service of Canada, speaking in Toronto in April 2004: “I`m honoured to be here today to celebrate with you ten years of success for Circles of Support and Accountability. I wanted to be here this morning, to be part of this celebration, for three reasons. One, because what you do is symbolic of our legislated mandate (the Corrections and Conditional Release Act) and what we strive for in corrections – that is, a continuity of control and assistance measures to reduce the potential for re-offending. Two, because what you do speaks directly to the values of Canadians – values of compassion, tolerance and hope, values that we are known for around the world.

“In your work with Circles of Support and Accountability, you are examples of citizens taking responsibility for the health and well-being of their communities. And in doing this, you are reshaping how we think about corrections and justice in this country and elsewhere.

“Having practical, community support for offenders who are coming out of prison is not just a `nice to have.` It is necessary.”

Some Canadian Quakers became involved in Circles and began to write about it in their journals, which is how Quakers in the UK heard about it and decided to explore the idea further with a view to adopting it here.

Helen Drewery, then the staff member working with the Crime and Community Justice Committee of Quaker Peace and Social Witness (