Citation

Lowe G, Willis G, Gibson KL. Sex. Abuse 2017; ePub(ePub): 1079063217729157.

Affiliation

The University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1079063217729157

PMID

28891402

Abstract

Most community members are not accepting of individuals convicted for sexual offenses living in their communities, let alone having regular contact with them. However, a select number of community members choose to give their time to assist these individuals reintegrate from prison into the community. Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) was developed as a way to address the issues that many individuals convicted of sex offenses face, that is, little to no prosocial support in the community. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 CoSA volunteers in New Zealand to gain a more thorough understanding of volunteers' motivation to be involved with CoSA. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. Three key themes of motivation were identified: (a) Restorative and Justice-Based Motivation, (b) Altruistic Motivation, and (c) Faith-Based Motivation.

FINDINGS are discussed in terms of their implications for future recruitment of volunteers for CoSAs.

Language: en

Keywords

CoSA; community engagement; community reintegration; motivation to volunteer; sexual offending