Circles of Support and Accountability: Preventing the harm caused by sexual abuse

Ron Macrae, a co-ordinator of the most successful project yet to reduce the risk posed by sex offenders to the community, is to give a locally and nationally Accountability) to prevent re-offending by sex offenders locally, which is being promoted by Quakers nattalk at Milton Keynes Quaker Centre on Sunday 18 November at 12 noon, followed by refreshments.   Anyone interested in finding out more or in becoming a project volunteer is welcome to attend.

"Circles of Support and Accountability" is a project that aims to substantially reduce the risk of future sexual abuse by supporting offenders who want to change.  Each offender who has served their sentence and wants to ensure he does not offend again is supported by a circle: a group of 4 or 5 trained volunteers from the community.  The volunteers, in turn, are supported throughout by professionals and work alongside family members, police and probation services.

A Circles volunteer said: "My gut feeling is that working in this circle has substantially reduced the likelihood of our offender creating more victims.  To me, as a survivor of sexual abuse, that is the greatest reward I can imagine - that other little girls are spared."

Each circle meets their high-risk offender weekly. The circle requires him to account for what he has been doing and how he is spending his time. In addition, individual members of the circle meet offenders informally for a coffee and a chat or a visit to a cinema, encouraging them to establish new interests and goals.

This method of making our communities safer was started in Canada in 1994.  In Thames Valley and in Hampshire, Quakers run one of 3 Home Office-funded pilot projects in Britain, working in partnership with the police, probation and prison service.  It has proved to be the most successful way yet found to reduce re-offending.  Statistics show that re-offending is normally common.   In contrast in the Thames Valley pilot, no-one has so far re-offended (though a small number have been returned to prison because of their circle's concern that they might offend again).

The Thames Valley and Hampshire pilot project is run by Quaker Peace and Social Witness Crime and Community Justice Group.  Quakers have worked for centuries to improve the criminal justice system.  We support “restorative justice” approaches such as Circles of Support and Accountability because these build healthy communities and respect human values.

The Thames Valley (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire) pilot started in 2002, has 5 staff and is to become an independent charity.

Quaker Peace and Social Witness are also encouraging and supporting the development of Circles projects around the country, including Somerset, Yorkshire, Norfolk, Manchester, Bedfordshire and Scotland.  They aim to create a national body to support the spread of the scheme.

See www.quaker.org.uk/qpsw for information about Quaker Peace and Social Witness and www.restorativejustice.org/ for information about restorative justice.

Milton Keynes Quaker Centre is at 1 Oakley Gardens, Downhead Park, MK15 9BH.  Telephone 01908 604673.  Website: www.miltonkeynesquakers.org.uk .