Circles of Support and Accountability: The Role of Social Relations in Core Member Desistance

Abstract

Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) appear to reduce the sexual recidivism of core members (i.e., individuals convicted of sexual offending). It remains unclear, however, how they do so. While much previous scholarship has hypothesized that the relations between core members and CoSA volunteers promote desistance from sexual offending, there has been no theoretically-informed research that specifically interrogates these relations. This article begins to address this gap by examining the relations formed in and by CoSA through the lens of Donati’s theory of relational reflexivity. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 62 CoSA participants across six CoSA programs located in the USA and Canada, it proffers a new theorization of the role of social relations in core members’ desistance. Findings from the study will enable CoSA practitioners around the globe to explicate and deepen their practice around more rigorous theoretical precepts.

Challenging co‐optive criminalisation: Feminist‐centred decarceration strategies for interpersonal and sexualised violence

“…Another model applied in many countries worldwide has been the Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA), which refers to groups of trained volunteers from the community who support people convicted of sexual offences (often against children) to reintegrate into the community after a period of incarceration (Richards, 2020). CoSA takes a broad restorative and reintegrative approach.…”