Pierce County Circles of Support and Accountability
Vision
To increase community safety and improve success rates for sexual offender reentry into the community. Pierce County Circles of Support and Accountability establishes a covenant with high-risk sexual offenders. The vision includes an experienced-based, low-cost, effective and humane program based in the community.
Mission
Pierce County Circles of Support and Accountability (PC-CoSA), an initiative of Associated Ministries, is engaged in a restorative justice initiative to substantially reduce the risk of future sexual victimization by supporting people convicted of sexual offenses as they reenter the community and lead responsible, productive, and accountable lives.
What is PC-CoSA?
PC-CoSA is based on a successful, internationally recognized model called Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) that was originally developed in Canada in 1994. A Circle is made up of a Core Member (released individual convicted of a sexual offense), Inner Circle members (volunteers), and an Outer Circle (local professionals). Circle Members work in teams of 4-7 with a Core Member and are supported by an Outer Circle. Circles meet regularly to provide support to the Core Member as he begins to lead a responsible, productive, and accountable life. the Outer Circle (steering committee) works on safe integration with the community -- finding appropriate housing, employment, transportation, medical assistance, mental/chemical/health appointments, acceptance, etc. -- upon reentry.
Carefully selected and trained volunteers 'walk with' Core Members during their reentry, offering their time and a listening ear, and acting as pro-social role models; essentially becoming a surrogate family to him -- often the first time in his life that he has had people who care about him in healthy ways. They advocate for him in the events of community hostility, or when he meets challenges with systems and bureaucracies. Volunteers offer practical and emotional support, but they also confront Core Members to challenge problematic attitudes, behavior, and cognitive distortions with the goal that the Core Member never reoffend. it has been observed that the most powerful aspect of a Circle is the sense of belonging that occurs for the Core Members. Volunteers have reported that they feel much satisfaction from the knowledge that they have assisted another human being gain a sense of independence in his life and to develop healthy strategies for dealing with life's challenges. They and their Core Members also derive satisfaction from the knowledge that they have contributed to the health and safety of their community. For Core Members, the sense of having contributed positively to their community is a strong impetus to steer clear of criminal patterns and to seek help if they feel they are slipping back into old ways. It is this sense of belonging to a community of friends -- the degree of positive, pro-social attachment that is formed -- that has resulted in CoSA having such a profound impact.
CoSA Covenant
Each Inner Circle, made up of community volunteers, drafts a formal signed agreement (covenant) with the selected Core Member. Each agreement is unique to the individual Core Member situation and needs. The covenant defines the expectations of each member of the Inner Circle and the Core Member.
CoSA Values
- To create community with Core Members in responsible, healthy, and life-giving ways that include appropriate safety for everyone.
- A belief in the inherent value and dignity of each and every human being and that no human being is therefore disposable.
- A belief that communities are capable of disapproving crime while increasing safety for their citizens when they are appropriately engaged and their capacity to confront conflict is increased through education and information-sharing, as well as through involvement/engagement.
- An affirmation that the community has the capacity, and bears a responsibility for, contributing to the safe restoration and healing of victims as well as the safe re-entry of individuals released to the community.
CoSA Principles
CoSA initiatives are grounded in a commitment to the principle of restorative justice. Circle volunteers and coordinators seek to take seriously the needs and concerns of the victims and community, as well as those of Core Members. The safety of the community and potential victims is imperative if there is to be safe integration within the community. For true community safety to be realized, all segments of community involved must feel some restoration of peace in their lives. This is a key motivating factor for CoSA.
History
Originally developed in 1994, Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) was created in Canada to help high-risk sexual offenders successfully reintegrate into society.
An evaluation study was conducted in Ontario, Canada (Wilson, Picheca & Prinzo, 2005), which found positive results for CoSA participants compared to a control group. A broader study (Wilson, Cortoni, McWhinnie & Vermani, 2007) from a number of Canadian cities confirmed the findings of the first study.
These evaluations of CoSA in Canada revealed that participation in a Circle significantly reduces recidivism for Core Members:
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When compared to a control group, ex-offenders who participated in CoSA had a 70 percent or greater reduction in sexual recidivism.
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CoSA Core Members had a greater than 50 percent reduction in violent crime recidivism (including sexual offenses) when compared to the control group.
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Recidivism for any type of crime was reduced by more than a third for those involved in a CoSA.
Volunteers
Volunteers must be a least 18 years old and meet application criteria. Each PC-CoSA Circle typically lasts approximately one year, with daily face-to-face contact between individual volunteers (or pairs of volunteers when required) and the Core Member, followed by weekly 1-2 hour meetings attended by all members, including the Core Member. Intensity of volunteer involvement in the Circle of Support is typically greater immediately following the Core Member's release from prison or commitment facility. Daily contact may reduce to daily telephone contact, or bi-weekly contact as the Core Member becomes more stable in the community. Volunteers receive extensive training and continuous support through their work.
Non-Supervisory Role of CoSA
It is important and necessary to state that PC-CoSA in not a supervisory body in relation to Core Members. The role of Circles of Support and Accountability is not to supervise men or women on parole, probation, or any other form of community release, nor do they supervise a person who is responsible under Court Orders. However, Core Members often will be under such supervision by appropriate agencies. There is no formal reporting relationship between a Core Member and any member of his CoSA or PC-CoSA.
It should also be pointed out that the agreement or covenant between the Core Member and his CoSA will provide details for the responsibilities of the Core Member and the CoSA. All covenants will include a stipulation that the CoSA must report to the police any relapse of coercive sexual activity or sexual involvement with a minor.
Selection of Core Members
Core Members will be selected from the highest risk (level 3) sexual offenders to be released from Department of Corrections facilities or the Special Commitment Center, who would otherwise be released in Pierce County. Thus, CoSA will offer an additional measure of safety to the citizens of Pierce County. It is anticipated that the DOC and DSHS will work in collaboration with the PC-CoSA as it makes its selections by providing relevant information for the PC-CoSA and its volunteers to make an informed choice as to which potential Core Members they will work with and which ones they will not.
Governance
The Associated Ministries board of directors will be the governing structure under which the Circles of Support (CoSA) advisory group will function. The CoSA coordinator will work directly with, and be supervised by, the Associated Ministries' executive director. In keeping with the philosophy and values of CoSA, Associated Ministries will both support and hold accountable the CoSA circles and staff.
The Promise of CoSAs
Circles of Support and Accountability offer a rare combination of evidence-based effectiveness and low cost for high-risk sexual offenders. Typically programs for this group have been highly restrictive residences, prisons, or close equivalents. Some of these facilities are among the most expensive of all human services. Formal psycho-sexual treatment, while important and necessary, is also costly. A volunteer-based, non-residential program that is proven to work seems to be ready made; ready made because most high-risk sexual offenders are in the community. To reach this group and really protect society, it is crucial that the program be community-based. Not only is this program evidence-based, low-cost, effective, and community-based, it is also humane. Further, the literature describing the link between sexual offender recidivism and social support is strong and compelling, as is the growing research evidence for the provision of such services through interventions like CoSA. CoSA, while disapproving of crime, stresses the dignity of all human beings and the development of healthy and life-giving ways -- a "balanced, self-determined lifestyle". It is not a paradox that safety for everyone is based on such concepts.
Comments From Associated Ministries
Associated Ministries builds community that is compassionate, humane, and just in partnership with more than 200 local churches and interfaith partners. Managing crises, moving to stabilization, establishing long-term viability, at both the personal and community levels is all of what it means to be Associated Ministries.
Violence in our homes and in our communities is experienced far too often, so Associated Ministries helped to establish the Hilltop Action Coalition to put an end to gang violence in the neighborhood. As a program of Associated Ministries, Hilltop Action Coalition has continued to address community safety, more recently turning its attention to prison re-entry from McNeil Island Correction Center, including publishing written alerts of Level 3 sex offenders when they are moving into the neighborhood.
Domestic violence and sexual assault occur far too often in our homes and our communities, so Associated Ministries launched Faith Partners Against Family Violence, an intensive training program for clergy and other religious leaders to help them talk more openly about family violence and sexual assault. Associated Ministries' work with the religious community in PIerce County was so well-received that we are now working across the State of Washington providing trainings and support to local churches working on the issue of family violence.
In our efforts to develop stronger communities, Associated Ministries is keenly aware of the need to ensure a high level of safety for all of the people living in the community; those who have lived in the neighborhood or community all of their lives, and those who are just moving in. Supporting Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) as Associated Ministries' newest initiative is the religious community's way of living into the Biblical injunction to "love the stranger, for you were once a stranger in the land of Egypt." (Deut 19.10)
Love as used by the author of Deuteronomy is not an amorous love one feels for a spouse or partner. There are two other uses of the English word "love" by authors of Scripture:
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Phileo is literally "brotherly love", thus the City of Brotherly Love is Phila-delphia;
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Agape is a love that embraces a concern for the other, filled with responsibilities and accountabilities.
The love of the stranger in our land is one of agape love, filled with concern for the other person, and that concern certainly includes each person in the relationship being responsible. As a new initiative of Associated Ministries, Circles of Support and Accountability will live up, and in to its very name as it works closely with Level 3 sex offenders to re-enter our neighborhoods and communities -- both living into CoSA's vision of "increasing community safety," and its mission of "restorative justice" that will "reduce the risk of future sexual victimization."
Associated Ministries has a long history of working with people from a variety of walks of life, many of whom society may have long ago forgotten and/or given up on. But Associated Ministries, committed to building a community that is compassionate, humane, and just, has walked with all people, ensuring that they have an opportunity to "lead responsible, productive, and accountable lives."