Drawing a Circle

Source: (2003) Relational Justice Bulletin. 18:4-5. Relationships Foundation. Downloaded 30 March 2004.

Helen Drewery reports here on a new strategy for assisting offenders as they leave prison at the end of their term and re-enter their communities. This strategy consists of Circles of Support and Accountability, a model pioneered in Canada. As she writes, all of us need friends, relations, and colleagues to help us in various ways in life. Offenders coming out of prison often find themselves cut off from such support and accountability. Sex offenders in particular, who often have to live away from the area where they committed their crime as a condition of release, can find themselves cut off from systems and relationships they need to re-enter society successfully. In this context, Drewery describes pilot programs in the United Kingdom which use Circles of Support and Accountability to assist sex offenders trying to make a successful transition from prison to society.