Volunteering With Sex Offenders The Attitudes of Volunteers Toward Sex Offenders, Their Treatment, and Rehabilitation

Feb 2017:

Abstract

The general public has been shown to hold negative attitudes toward sexual offenders, sex offender treatment, and the rehabilitation of sexual offenders. It appears pertinent to the success of sex offender management strategies that utilise volunteers that selected volunteers do not share these attitudes.

Here, volunteers for Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA), a community-based initiative supporting the reintegration of sex offenders, completed three validated psychometric measures assessing attitudes toward sex offenders in general and toward their treatment and rehabilitation.

Responses were compared with a U.K. general public sample. The results showed that volunteers held more positive attitudes toward sex offenders, sex offender treatment, and sex offender rehabilitation than the U.K. general public sample. The significance of these findings is discussed alongside directions for future research. ..Source..

There's a Reliable Therapy for Sex Offenders -- But Nobody Wants Them to Get It

Excellent...

10-1-15 National:

In June of 1994, a convicted child molester named Charlie Taylor moved into a small apartment in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, across the street from a community center. He had no family. He had no parole officer. At the time, sex offenders deemed too dangerous to be let out of prison early were, paradoxically, released at the end of their sentences with no ongoing oversight or treatment from the Correctional Services of Canada.

What he did have was a friend. Harry Nigh, a Mennonite pastor at The Welcome Inn church had invited Charlie Taylor to town. Without knowing Taylor personally, without any real training in dealing with sex offenders, Nigh welcomed Taylor and brought him home for supper. Nigh’s son, then a third grader, would later recognize Taylor’s face on warning fliers handed out in the local school. Meanwhile, Nigh lived in fear – not of Taylor, but of his own furious neighbors. “I thought I was going to get run out of town,” he says.

Most of us would probably sympathize with the people carrying torches and pitchforks. In fact, laws in the U.S. and Canada are increasingly designed to exclude sex offenders from society, with residency restrictions, monitoring programs, community notification programs, and civil commitments that effectively keep people locked up forever, even after they’ve served their term in prison.

The plan Nigh came up with for Charlie Taylor was the opposite of all that. Since then, it’s come to be known as Circles of Support and Accountability, or CoSA. The model is used internationally to reduce the chances that freed sex offenders will fall back into their old crimes. Two decades of research suggests it can be effective — more so, at any rate, than knee-jerk safety measures like notifying the public about sex offenders in their midst, which can actually increase the risk of reoffense.

Evaluability Assessments of the Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) Model, Cross - Site Report

October 2013:

Abstract:
The assessment of COSA across five sites concludes that there is no methodological or ethical reason why a randomized control trial of COSA could not be conducted in the United States; however, there are five potential obstacles that must be addressed in order to conduct a successful experimental evaluation of COSA: choice of outcomes; significant differences in program implementation; core member selection issues; sample size, site capacity, and low baselines of recidivism; and ownership of data.

These potential obstacles can be addressed with a combination of realistic precision in program implementation, rigorous experimental control, and an increase in real-world resources. Three recommendations for action are proposed. First, conduct an experimental evaluation of the Vermont COSA program alone.

Second, conduct an experimental evaluation that combines the Vermont COSA and COSA Fresno programs. A third possibility is to allow the fledgling sites to develop and conduct a multi-site evaluation of COSA in the future.

Under the general COSA structure, participants commit to 1 year of participation in COSA meetings, through which they develop new social bonds with other members and staff, receive assistance in assessing the types of services they need, engage in recognition of their risky behaviors, and develop problem solving skills.

To date, there has been no widely accepted evaluation of any COSA program. The current study assessed the viability of a rigorous evaluation of COSA based on site visits to five locations where COSA is operating in the United States: Fresno, CA; Denver, CO; Durham, NC; Lancaster, PA; and Burlington, VT. Extensive data tables, 51 references, and appended supplementary data and information. ..Source.. by Ian A. Elliott, Ph.D. ; Gary Zajac, Ph.D. ; Courtney A. Meyer, M.A.

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Links to Individual COSA Study Results

• Evaluability Assessments of the Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) Model, Cross-Site Report (PDF, 94 pages)
• Evaluability Assessments of the Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) Model, Site Report: Colorado COSA (PDF, 27 pages)
• Evaluability Assessments of the Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) Model, Site Report: COSA Durham (PDF, 27 pages)
• Evaluability Assessments of the Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) Model, Site Report: COSA Fresno (PDF, 30 pages)
• Evaluability Assessments of the Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) Model, Site Report: COSA Lancaster (PDF, 26 pages)
• Evaluability Assessments of the Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) Model, Site Report: Vermont COSA (PDF, 30 pages)

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COSA Fresno CA
COSA Denver CO ..FAQ..
COSA Durham NC ..Brochure.. ..Calling a sex offender "Friend"..
COSA Lancaster PA
COSA Burlington VT (One of 2 sites)

COSA Wisconsin (Not part of this study)

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CIRCLES of SUPPORT and ACCOUNTABILITY: Final Report Prepared for the State of Vermont Department of Corrections

November 2013 Vermont:

Introduction:
In spring 2010, Professor Fox was contracted by the State of Vermont Agency of Human Services, Department of Corrections, to conduct a qualitative evaluation of their Circles of Support & Accountability (CoSA) program, specifically those funded by the federal Second Chance Act.

CoSA will be explained in detail, but in short, CoSA is a community-based, non-professional model for assisting high-risk offenders returning to communities. Other jurisdictions that utilize CoSA confine their use to the management of high-risk sex offenders, but Vermont is unique is applying the model to other types of serious offending.

The CoSA reentry program in Vermont was funded by the Second Chance Act of 2007: Community Safety through Recidivism Prevention (H.R. 1593/S. 1060), which has been funded by the U.S. Congress in increasing amounts over the past several years.1

The initial funding supported 24 CoSAs in Vermont (described in detail below). Part of the grant narrative and budget allocated funds for an evaluation. Rather than a quantitative study about re-offense rates, which the Department of Corrections (Corrections) can calculate for itself and may not be significant in such a small sample, Corrections requested an in-depth qualitative analysis of how CoSA works.

In particular, there is a small but solid body of literature out of Canada that measures the impact of CoSA in studies that compare quasi-experimental groups to control groups. These studies have found a significant reduction in recidivism for high-risk sexual offenders —at times as great as a 70% reduction in re-offending among those with a circle of support & accountability compared to those without one (Wilson, Cortoni, & McWhinnie, 2009; Wilson & Prinzo, 2001; Wilson, Picheca, & Prinzo, 2005).

When the Second Chance Act was re-funded in 2011, Corrections rolled its existing grant into the new funds and committed to funding a total of 48 CoSAs from this funding source, inclusive of both grants. This evaluation project was extended with the intention to include 48 CoSAs; however, as setting up CoSAs takes time, and are implemented incrementally, not all 48 are yet functional, or have not been operational long enough to be evaluated appropriately. The new forthcoming funding stipulations disallow a continuation of the grant in the form of a no-cost extension, thus it was decided by Corrections that the evaluator should complete the report based on the existing CoSAs. All CoSAs that were presently functional or that had been completed were evaluated.2 The number of CoSAs evaluated was 21, which includes 21 core members (released offenders), 59 volunteers and 9 reentry coordinators. The evaluation includes a total of 89 participants. ..Continued.. by Kathryn J. Fox, Ph.D., University of Vermont, Department of Sociology

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Within the Second Chance Act of 2007 is this:

SEC. 212. RESPONSIBLE REINTEGRATION OF OFFENDERS.
(a) Eligible Offenders.--
(1) In general.--In this section, the term ``eligible
offender'' means an individual who--
(A) is 18 years of age or older;
(B) has been convicted as an adult and imprisoned under
Federal or State law;
(C) has never been convicted of a violent or sex-related
offense; and
(D) except as provided in paragraph (2), has been released
from a prison or jail for not more than 180 days before the
date on which the individual begins participating in a grant
program carried out under this section.
(2) Exception.--Each grantee under this section may permit not
more than 10 percent of the individuals served with a grant under
this section to be individuals who--
(A) meet the conditions of subparagraphs (A) through (C) of
paragraph (1); and
(B) have been released from a prison or jail for more than
180 days before the date on which the individuals begin
participating in the grant program carried out under this
section.

Circles of Support helps ex-offenders after prison

3-22-2014 Wisconsin:

MANITOWOC, Wis. (AP) — For convicted drug dealer Tyler Webb and child sex abuser David Klingholz, Circles of Support is a lifesaving program they believe can help prevent them from going back to prison.

"Circles is mentoring for your life guiding you in the right direction," Webb, released from prison last April, said after a recent weekly meeting at the Salvation Army of Manitowoc County. It offers the program in partnership with Goodwill North Central Wisconsin.

"If it wasn't for this program and the Salvation Army, I don't know where I'd be or what I'd be doing," said Webb, who works several days a week at its pantry on Ninth Street. "My best friends and family are here."

Among them is Lt. Jeff Olson. "When these folks are coming out of prison or jail, they don't have a lot of support," said the Corps officer. "We look to help the whole person ... helping them to find jobs, a place to live, the right friends, reconcile with family ... many have destroyed what should be good relationships."

Webb got teary-eyed when talking with his mentor, Jerry Schubring, that one relationship he's repairing is with one of his three children, a daughter he hadn't seen for years.

"I want to raise my kids to know what dignity and integrity are, to have self-respect and self-love, and, most importantly, to have a life that will endure all adversity," Webb, 33, said.

"You can't give up on a person," said Schubring, 72, who knew Webb before he was imprisoned, introducing the ex-offender and daughter to Emanuel United Methodist Church in Two Rivers where they were baptized.

"I stuck with him all the while when he went to prison, accepted his phone calls just about every week," said Schubring, who added he's "gotten hooked" on serving as a mentor with Circles of Support.

Guide to COSA Project Development

Worldwide:

Acknowledgements

The need for comprehensive training resources for Circles of Support and Accountability was identified several years ago. That was the beginning of a journey that has produced several videos and two guides. The first Guide is entitled, Circles of support and Accountability: A Guide to Training Potential Volunteers 2002 and now this Guide entitled Circles of Support and Accountability: Guide to Project Development 2003. These resources are intended to provide help for individuals and communities who are considering Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) in their communities and to help maintain the dialogue between COSA's within Canada and around the world. We are grateful for the feedback that we have received along the way and look forward to continued feedback from all those interested in the challenging work.

This production of the resource material is pioneering work. It takes courage and dedication and several people need to be acknowledged for their vision, time and hard work.

Andrew McWhinnie, David Dyck, and Evan Heise are the pioneer Co-ordinators for Circles of Support and Accountability. They, along with a network of individuals working in this field, have been instrumental in developing this resource. In their capacities, they each contributed portions to this manual and provided valuable feedback. We are especially grateful to Andrew McWhinnie who drafted the original document and submitted it to the editing process. Rev. Christina Guest brought her expert editing skills to both volumes and provided invaluable support. Rev. David Molzahn provided the national leadership to bring the project to completion in its present form.

A heart-felt thank you is owed to each of these individuals and, beyond them, to all those who contribute in many other ways to the ongoing development of Circles of Support and Accountability.

Copyright - Correctional service of Canada
Cat. No. JS82-102/2003E
ISBN 0-662-33842-1

..Index of Sections of Full Manual.. by Correctional Service Canana

Sex-offender program victim of funding cuts

UPDATE: Sex offender watch group gets 11th-hour funding reprieve

3-4-2014 Canada:

Project proven to prevent reoffending

A program aimed at helping high-risk sex offenders not to reoffend faces staffing and program cuts after losing its federal funding.

Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA), which has 18 projects across Canada, found out last week Correctional Service Canada will no longer fund it after March 31.

Correctional Service Canada said it does not have $2.2 million in its budget to support the national program.

"It's been our longest-term supporter," said Joan Carolyn, director of the program in Winnipeg that started in 1999. "To lose someone like that is a big deal."

CoSA says its 700 volunteers across Canada currently support 155 sexual offenders.

"We're trying to get people, if they believe in something like this, to contact their MPs and let them know," said Carolyn.

"For the Winnipeg group it will mean the loss of some highly valued staff," she said of the federal cuts.

Calling a sex offender 'friend' Circles of Support & Accountability helps reintegrate and reduce risks

10-19-2013 Canada:

Friends, family, a job, a place to live, they're the trappings of a life most people take for granted - unless you're a released high-risk sex offender.

They are the pariahs of the Canadian criminal justice system, both inside and outside prison walls.

The recent panic and school lockdowns surrounding high risk Alberta sex offender Michael Sean Stanley, who went on the lam after cutting off his monitoring ankle bracelet, is a tangible example of the anxiety they instil.

But few will be locked away forever. The correctional system is built on the notion of rehabilitation - go to prison, get some help and you ideally come out a reformed criminal, ready to re-join a society you have been away from for years, sometimes decades.

But society is waiting with closed doors not open arms because you're a sex offender, seemingly reformed or not.

If you're alienated and unable to weave your way back into the fabric of society, the risk of falling back into old habits, under the old pressures, of ultimately reoffending goes up. But few people want to risk opening the door - to a job, to an apartment, even to a shopping mall at times - because you might reoffend.

Tom is living that catch-22.

He looks so altogether ordinary - a kindly middle-aged face, groomed, simply dressed. He speaks well, likes a good game of bridge and has a gentle wit.

The picture contrasts sharply with an image of the younger version of this man, captured in reports and old news clippings - angry, addicted, out of control, and seemingly without conscience as his terrifying, violent crimes left a string of damaged victims.

Never finishing one sentence before adding a new one, he has now served more than three decades - most of his adult life - behind bars. His victims - none of whom were children - would likely say it still isn't enough; the law has deemed otherwise.

He's now trying to create a life in Regina, "outside the wall," as he calls it.

When first released, his reputation preceded him after he became the subject of a public disclosure warning in Regina. Another smaller community was up in arms when word got out that he was considering a move there.

He doesn't begrudge the police for putting out a warning, which also urges the public against vigilantism.

"They're letting the public know there's a person like myself in their community," says Tom, who agreed to speak to the Leader-Post on the condition he not be identified. He is real; the name "Tom" isn't.

"I'm not out here to hurt anybody. What I done was very horrible," he readily admits.

With plans announced recently by the Stephen Harper government to create a publicly accessible national sex offender registry, even more people like Tom will be under a microscope.

"There are steps I've taken now to ensure things like that will never happen again," he says.

His key to finding his way - and hopefully success - is a group of community volunteers who aren't afraid to call a sex offender "friend."

"I've been out twice before. I always reoffended and went back in. This is the longest period of time I've been out. And that's because of COSA."

Circles of Support and Accountability: Engaging Community Volunteers in the Management of High-Risk Sexual Offenders

2007 Canada:

Abstract:
The release to the community of a sexual offender is frequently accompanied by intense coverage in the news media. Too often, the type of coverage these releases receive serves only to force many offenders into hiding or out of one community and into another. Forced to move to another community, the scapegoating process starts all over again.

It is well known that secrecy and isolation are critical elements in sexual offending behaviour. Thus, forcing offenders into hiding does nothing to increase community safety or offender accountability and, arguably, increases the risk that new victims will be created. The most problematic releases are those in which sexual offenders arrive in a community with few or no links, and with little access to appropriate treatment and supervisory services.

This article outlines a restorative approach to the risk management of high-risk sexual offenders in Canada using professionally-facilitated volunteerism. The Circles of Support and Accountability model grew out of an ad hoc, faith-based response to a situation much like that described above in South-Central Ontario, Canada.

The resultant pilot project has since reached its twelfth anniversary and the model has proliferated both nationally and internationally. ..Source.. by
Robin J. Wilson, Humber College - Institute of Technology and Applied Learning -and- Andrew McWhinnie, Andrew McWhinnie Consulting -and- Janice E. Picheca, Government of Canada -and- Michelle Prinzo, Cognitive and Interpersonal Therapy Center -and- Franca Cortoni, Andrew McWhinnie Consulting

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See articles HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE

Running in US HERE and in UK HERE

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