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Releasing Sex Offenders Into the Community Through “Circles of Support” — A Means of Reintegrating the “Worst of the Worst”

Cesaroni, Carla
June 4, 2015

Source: (2001) Journal of Offender Rehabilitation. 34(2): 85-98.

Using the philosophy of restorative justice, the Mennonite Central Committee, Ontario, created a program entitled Circles of Support and Accountability. The program attempts to return sex offenders to the community in a productive, supportive fashion while still holding the ex-offender accountable. Volunteers, primarily from the faith community, assist with practical life-skills, emotional needs and in mediation with the wider community. Most ex-offenders appear to join a Circle as a means of self-protection. All seem aware of the reality that often surrounds the release of a high-profile sex offender. A number of former Circle members have indicated that they would have returned to a lifestyle conducive to re-offending had it not been for the Circles. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

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