It was an honour to celebrate 30 years of Circles this month.
Circles of Support and Accountability (Circles) are community-led interventions, designed to support people with convictions for sexual offences who are at risk of committing offences to help them address their behaviours, to hold them accountable, and to support positive outcomes.
On Friday, 8 November 2024, we brought together almost 100 guests and speakers at an event in London to mark our anniversary, all committed to the work and impact of Circles and all keen to hear about how far we have come over the past 30 years.
In 1994, the Reverend Harry Nigh and a small number of volunteers from his congregation in Hamilton (Ontario, Canada), offered support to a lifelong recidivist who committed serious crimes against children, when he was released from prison into the community. The efforts by these volunteers created a better way of ensuring the protection of children as they supported ‘Charlie’ and assisted him to live an offence free life in the community until his death. This approach became known as Circles.
The origins of Circles are rooted in the principles of restorative justice, in particular, a belief in the importance of healthy relationships and an individual’s accountability for what they do and its effect upon others.
This first Circle led to the development of a movement which expanded across Canada, then internationally to England and Wales and from there expanded into Europe, the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
In 2008, Circles UK was set up as the national organisation for the development and delivery of Circles provision. Today there are Circles Providers covering much of England and Wales (Local Providers), with Circles also being delivered in parts of Europe (CirclesEurope).
Despite this wide network of activity, which has been proven by academic research to deliver real impact, we remain a charity that is not widely known or spoken of, and much of the work by our Providers remains hidden.
Whilst it is right that Circles take place in private, I hope that as they continue to be delivered over the next three decades and beyond, that we find it easier as a society to talk about these approaches to managing risk in the community, and grow understanding and awareness of what we’re trying to do.
Sexual offending is an abhorrent crime with significant, lifelong impacts for those affected. It is right that those responsible face appropriate justice, but once a prison term is served, what next? It is crucial that we do everything possible to prevent further harm and to safeguard anyone that could be at risk.
And it is a growing area of harm. A total of 193,566 sexual offences were recorded by the police in England and Wales in the year ending March 2022, which is the highest level recorded. The Crime Survey for England and Wales provides the best measure of victimisation, estimated that around 1.1 million adults aged 16 years and over were victims of sexual assault (including attempts) in the year ending March 2022 survey. This is staggering.
We also know that types of offending are changing. The threat of online child sexual abuse for example is growing at an exponential rate. Childlight reported this year that 300 million+ children under the age of 18 have been affected by online child sexual exploitation and abuse in the last 12 months.
We must respond with any tools at our disposal, and one of these tools is doing all we can to prevent reoffending.
Sexual abuse understandably provokes powerful responses from communities. Social isolation and emotional loneliness are common for those who sexually harm others. As a result, these are key factors in increasing the risk of reoffending. Circles can provide a solution and have proven to be an extremely effective way of reducing this risk through a small group of trained and supervised volunteers giving their time freely to provide a structured community intervention.
Sir Terry Waite is a vocal supporter of the impact of Circles and we were delighted to welcome him to speak at our anniversary event. Earlier this year he wrote for Inside Time on this issue and said
“There is certainly a need for the public to be better informed about this matter and for research findings to be more generally available. Until attitudes change, return into the community for former offenders will continue to be extremely difficult. Admittedly this is a hard matter to deal with, but deal with it we must.”
Sir Terry Waite
It was also an honour to welcome Rev Harry Nigh as a keynote speaker at the event. He spoke about his experience of setting up the first Circle in Canada and how he had never envisaged that it would lead to such an enormous international Circles movement. He shared how, despite challenge and misunderstanding from so many, they brought a community together to reduce risk and harm and to change the course of what could have otherwise been the continuation of a destructive, damaging life. His input was inspiring and moving.
As the national body for the provision of Circles within the UK, some of our funding comes from the Ministry of Justice to enable our important work, so that referring agencies, MAPPA partners, funders and the public can have confidence in the services provided across the country. Our Providers are doing great work, commissioned by Ministry of Justice/HMPPS as well as bodies such as Police and Crime Commissioners, local authorities, charitable trusts and foundations and supported by teams of volunteers who give up their time to do this complex, and often challenging work.
We must never underestimate the magnitude of the generosity of our volunteers. It is the most selfless act of kindness to give up the most precious of belongings – time – to help someone else. I can never speak highly enough of them and thank every single volunteer that helps us make Circles a reality.
We came away from the celebration event with new energy. Gerry Marshall, previous chair of Circles UK said: “It was a great event that seemed to energise, excite and inspire while also reflecting and celebrating.” I hope that by sharing the impact of our work over so many years, and the scale of the challenge we continue to face, we will encourage others to consider supporting us with time or with funding, or to simply seek to understand this issue more.