Circles of Support and Accountability(follow-up/ reintegration of people who have committed a sexual offence) (Catalonia)

Circles of Support and Accountability “CERCLESCAT”, funded by the Department of Justice of the Generalitat de Catalunya, is a project that provides support and supervision for life after release to people who have committed a sexual offence and are considered “high-risk profiles”. It is a preventive programme whose core motto is “No more victims”.

The programme’s work begins in the period before final release and is consolidated once release has been granted. The objective is twofold: to foster the social reintegration of the participants and to prevent, as far as possible, the commission of a new offence.

The participation of citizens is key to the success of the project. A “Circle of Support and Accountability” is made up of a person who has committed a sexual offence (known as the core member), a group of 4 or 5 volunteers, and a professional. This group is called a circle.

The members of the circle meet to talk about the progress made by the core member, to offer support in organising their life after release, and to share the difficulties they may encounter in achieving this, jointly thinking about solutions that can help to overcome them. To this end, they must all review together the mistakes that led the core member to commit the offence in the past, and strengthen the factors that can prevent them from happening again. In practice, this involves reviewing the Relapse Prevention Plan, and strengthening the Good Lives Model.

It should be noted that each circle has an “Outer Circle”. The professional who coordinates the circle shares with other key community stakeholders (professionals from open-regime centres or parole, therapists, social organisations, social services…) information on the core member’s improvements, difficulties and risks, which helps their reintegration process to progress favourably.

Throughout their participation in the project, volunteers have support and supervision spaces on an ongoing basis, as well as specific training days.

Cerclescat participates actively in the European association CirclesEurope, within which it works closely with professionals from other countries such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium.