Through community support, CÍRCULOS ESPAÑA promotes the responsible social reintegration of people who have committed sexual offences, with the aim of preventing reoffending and contributing to a safer community. Diana Vivò Cordòn, the programme’s coordinator, explains how the support of volunteers, the building of positive social ties and accountability for the harm caused can become essential tools for preventing further offences and creating opportunities for change.
– What makes CÍRCULOS ESPAÑA a key tool for preventing further offences?
It is a community support programme for people who have committed sexual offences and are in the process of social reintegration. Its main aim is to help prevent further offences and thereby make the community safer.
At first glance, it can be hard to see why support can be a prevention tool. However, one of the programme’s fundamental principles is that a person who has support, positive social ties, supervision and spaces where they can talk honestly about their difficulties is more likely to maintain a stable life away from crime.
– How does that idea translate into the way the programme works, and what does the motto “No more victims” mean?
The work of CÍRCULOS ESPAÑA is based on a simple but very powerful idea: “No more victims”. Everything done within the programme is ultimately aimed at preventing anyone else from suffering a sexual offence.
To this end, a Circle made up of specially selected and trained volunteers is formed around the participant, whom we call the Core Member. These volunteers offer companionship, a listening ear and support with all sorts of everyday matters, but they also help to identify risky situations, difficulties or behaviours that could jeopardise the reintegration process.
– What role does the Circle play within the network of professionals involved in each case?
The Circle does not replace professionals or specialist services. It is one more piece of a much wider intervention network, coordinated with prison professionals and the social and therapeutic services involved in each case.
– One of the features that makes the programme especially valuable is this combination of support and accountability. How do you maintain that balance?
Volunteers offer support without judging, but that does not mean justifying or minimising the offence committed. The starting point is recognition of the harm caused and the need for the person to take responsibility for their decisions and for building a different life.
– What aspects of everyday life are addressed during the meetings, and why can they be so important in preventing further offences?
During the meetings, we work on matters that may often seem mundane: family relationships, loneliness, looking for work, friendships, free time, personal conflicts, difficulties relating to others, or plans for the future.
However, all of these are part of what are known as protective factors. Having a structured life, healthy social relationships, realistic goals and people to turn to when difficulties arise can make a significant difference.
– What do volunteers bring to this project?
Volunteers play an essential role. They bring something that a purely professional intervention can hardly offer: a normalised community relationship. They share conversation, activities and experiences in a relationship based on closeness, but also on commitment to the programme’s boundaries and goals.
– How are volunteers prepared for a task that can be complex and emotionally demanding?
Volunteers receive specific training and have ongoing support from the professional coordinators. They are not left alone to deal with complex situations, nor do they take on roles that belong to specialist professionals. The Circle works precisely because there is a structure that allows relevant information to be shared, situations to be assessed as they arise and decisions to be made in a coordinated way.
– In your experience as coordinator, what strikes you most about the progress of the people who take part in a Circle?
One of the most rewarding parts of my work as coordinator is being able to observe the changes that take place within the Circles.
At the beginning, there is usually a great deal of uncertainty. Volunteers naturally have questions about what the person they are going to support will be like, what they may encounter or how to act in certain situations. The Core Member may also arrive feeling mistrustful, afraid of being judged or struggling to understand what a group of strangers can offer them.
– How does the relationship between the volunteers and the Core Member change as the process moves forward?
Gradually, when the Circle is working, those initial positions begin to shift. Trust builds, deeper conversations emerge and the meetings stop being simply scheduled get-togethers and become a meaningful space in the lives of those taking part.
As coordinators, we find it especially valuable to see how people who may initially have felt very distant from one another end up finding common ground.
The volunteers discover the person beyond the offence, without ever forgetting how serious it was, and the Core Member finds a group of people who demand accountability but who, at the same time, are willing to support them in their process of change.
– What else would you highlight about the volunteers?
Without a doubt, their capacity for commitment. These are people who choose to devote part of their time to a task that is not always easy to explain to others, because they understand that contributing to responsible reintegration is also a way of protecting the community.
– How are difficult situations or attitudes that could pose a risk to the reintegration process dealt with?
It is work that requires us to maintain a constant balance. Supporting someone does not mean avoiding uncomfortable conversations. Often, our job is precisely to point out contradictions, work through resistance, question certain attitudes or help the person to recognise situations that could become a risk. But doing so within a relationship of trust makes it possible to address issues that might be much harder to tackle in other settings.
– What does coordinating the project and supporting such different processes mean to you on a day-to-day basis?
For me, coordinating the project means working very closely with people: Core Members, volunteers, prison professionals and the rest of the team. Every Circle is different, and every process requires listening, assessing and adapting the intervention.
There are moments of very clear progress and others when the changes are small. Sometimes progress can be as simple as someone starting to ask for help before a situation becomes a problem, being able to acknowledge a difficulty they used to deny, or gradually building healthier social relationships.
These are changes that may not always be visible from the outside, but they are enormously important.
And that is perhaps one of the programme’s greatest strengths.
– Reintegration and the protection of victims are often presented as if they were opposing goals. How does CÍRCULOS ESPAÑA respond to that idea?
CÍRCULOS ESPAÑA does not pose a choice between supporting a person who has committed an offence and protecting potential victims. Both are part of the same goal.
Working to stop someone from reoffending means working to ensure there are no new victims.
– To finish the interview, what message would you like to convey to society about the importance of community support in reintegration processes?
Every bond that is built, every risk situation detected in time, every difficult conversation held and every step towards a more stable life all share the same purpose: building a safer community.
Reintegration is not solely the responsibility of those trying to rebuild their lives. It also needs opportunities, boundaries, support and a community able to be part of that process.
That is precisely the space that each Circle seeks to build.
