‘Circles Of Support’ Scheme To Help Sex Offenders On Release

An innovative scheme to create a “Circle of support” to monitor high-risk sex offenders on release from prison looks likely to be introduced in Scotland. Circles of support were developed in Canada in the 1990s by the Mennonite Church to try to prevent reoffending by particularly high-risk sex criminals.

An expert working group, which includes representatives from the prison service, police, social work and voluntary sector, established to consider the benefits of Circles projects, will send its report to the Scottish Executive next month detailing the success of the scheme.

The Circles, which are made up of volunteers who are generally experienced in dealing with criminals, have daily contact with paedophiles and other high-risk offenders and work with statutory agencies including the police to monitor changes in behaviour.

Members of the Circles offer mentoring and support, but also effectively supervise the offenders’ activities and hold them to account. If the offender’s actions indicate that they are about to commit a further offence, the members work with other agencies to change their statutory supervision or send them back to prison.

The importance of monitoring sex offenders more closely was highlighted earlier this month with the conviction of Peter Tobin, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering and raping Polish student Angelika Kluk. Tobin was on the sex offenders’ register but was living under an alias.

The Canadian Circles model, which recorded a 70% lower rate of reoffending when compared with a control group, has been tried successfully in the US and in the Thames Valley, England.

An evaluation of the English Circles projects shows that, during a three-year period, out of 28 high-risk offenders only three had been recalled to prison. None of these recalls was for a sexual offence.

Last year a Holyrood subcommittee was set up to investigate and report on issues surrounding housing, sentencing and information-sharing on child sex offenders.

The Justice 2 sub-committee recommended that the executive consider the potential of Circles of support projects and, if found to be effective, instigate pilot projects in Scottish communities. At the time ministers said they wanted to see the results of the English pilots before making any commitment.

Keith Simpson, head of development and research at Sacro, the community safety charity and a member of the group, said recent studies of those pilots and projects in other parts of the world confirmed their effectiveness. He believes that ministers should now give both political and financial backing to the proposal.

“The executive was waiting to see what happened south of the border, but there is  now research to show the pilots have been successful,” he said. “The prospect of the voluntary sector, church and other agencies working together on supervision is a very exciting one.”

Research indicates that more than 20% of rapists and 9% of paedophiles are return-ed to prison in Scotland for sexual offences in the four to five years after they are released.

The report being sent to the executive states: “Together this research provides strong evidence that Circles are effective in safeguarding communities and reducing reoffending among high-risk sex offenders. Given the strength of this evidence, and the success of Circles in Canada and England, there is no obvious reason Circles should not be equally effective in Scotland.”