Last week I found myself in the unusual position of watching the local news. I normally avoid this at all costs, un-inspired as I am by the sight of 75 year old Betty swimming 15 lengths butterfly in the local pool or other such stories which alas, cantankerous young git that I am, I fail to appreciate. However, Look North featured a fascinating piece last week on the charity Circles UK and offered a rather impartial overview of a charity that I suspect doesn't always get a fair hearing.Circles UK describes itself in the following terms: 'Circles of Support and Accountability are an innovative and successful community contribution to reducing sex offending, working in close partnership with criminal justice agencies.
Circles UK is the national body supporting the development, quality, coordination and effectiveness of local Circles.'
The organisation is a group of Volunteers from a local community which forms a Circle around an offender. In Circles, the sex offender is referred to as the 'Core Member'. Each Circle consists of four to six Volunteers and a Core Member.
It aims to provide a supportive social network that also requires the Core Member to take responsibility (be ‘accountable’) for his/her ongoing risk management. The Circle can also provide support and practical guidance in such things as developing their social skills, finding suitable accommodation or helping the Core Member to find appropriate hobbies and interests.
Volunteers are fully informed of the Core Member's past pattern of offending, and whilst helping them to settle into the community the Volunteers also to assist them to recognise patterns of thought and behaviour that could lead to their re-offending. Within it, the Core Member can grow in self-esteem and develop healthy adult relationships, maximising his or her chances of successfully re-integrating into the community in a safe and fulfilling way.
The Core Member is involved from the beginning, is included in all decision making and, like all other members of the Circle, signs a contract committing him or herself to the Circle and its aims. Each Circle is unique, because it is individually designed around the needs of the Core Member.
Read more about the charity here. If you are interested in being a volunteer, you can do so here, and see info on local projects here.
The group also organised a conference back in October and brilliantly have posted the PowerPoint slides from the presentations here. One set of slides from the NSPCC includes a host of stats that are worth re-stating, and act as a reminder as to why we need charities like Circles UK.- 60 children are sexually abused daily in England & Wales
- More than 21,000 sex offences against children recorded by Police Forces last year – equivalent to 60 a day
- 1 in 7 victims younger than 10 years
- Girls 6 times more likely to be victims than boys
- Offender was 4 times more likely to know the victim than to be a stranger
- 80% of offences take place in the home of Victim or Perpetrator
- Almost 30,000 on sex offender register
- Average of 58 per 100,000 population
- 70% of perpetrators had between 1 and 9 victims – up to 450 children in some cases
- Average = 3 victims per perpetrator
- Of 224 adult male victims only 26 (12%) went on to abuse in a long term study
In truth, what we do socially and legally with paedophiles is one of the great socio-legal challenges of our time. For those offenders post custody or who are never given a custodial sentence, we need these groups to provide support and limit the chances of re-offending behaviour.
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