Circles of Support & Accountability: The Role of the Community in Effective Sexual Offender Risk Management

Abstract

Ask yourself: How many people are there in your daily life who are not paid to be there? Now ask yourself, 'How successful am I as a person, lover, spouse (maybe), a parent a friend, or a member of an extended family?' These two questions are almost inextricably related, right? The first you may recognize as a question similar to one found in many assessment tools measuring stable dynamic predictors of risk for sexual reoffending exploring significant social relationships. Indeed, such instruments consider quite a number of areas that translated into common parlance, explore a person's connection to and ability to function in a community setting of noncriminal associates. The need for 'community' in anyone's life is extensive, and no less so for the person struggling to cope with issues related to criminal sexual behavior. In fact poor social functioning and social isolation are well known and commonly observed factors among those who engage in deviant sexual behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)