ABSTRACT
Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) is a way of working with sex offenders using volunteers. The Circle offers the Core Member 'support' in various forms but also requires from the offender a degree of 'accountability' for their future behaviour. The Circle of volunteers is linked by a 'Coordinator' to the statutory agencies in the form of the probation and police service. Volunteers are carefully selected, and given preliminary training and ongoing support by the Coordinator. In the UK, Circles UK has become the national umbrella body for all local Circles initiatives with its stated aim being 'no more victims'; the ideas and practice of CoSA have started to spread around the world. The CoSA arrangements may be pictured as a series of concentric circles at the centre of which is the person who has been convicted for a sexual offence - the Core Member.
