Circles of support and accountability (CoSA) and other community-based, post custodial programs for people with convictions for sexual offending against children in Australia: A scoping study

The number of persons with convictions for sexual offending (PCSOs) in Australian prisons has increased rapidly in recent years (see Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018, 2019, 2020a, 2021). During the last decade, the number of prisoners incarcerated for sexual offences has increased approximately 80 percent, from 3,577 in 2012 to 6,446 in 2022 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2022b). Statistics indicate that PCSOs comprise 18 percent of all sentenced prisoners across Australia and that sexual offences are the second most common offence for which Australians are sentenced to prison (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2023). As almost all of those incarcerated in relation to sexual offending will be released from prison, it is vital to consider measures that reduce the risk of recidivism when a PCSO is released from prison and rejoins the community. This scoping study emerged following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (RCIRCSA; 2017b) and forms one measure of the First Commonwealth Action Plan to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2024 (National Office for Child Safety, 2021). Specifically, under the Action Plan’s “Offender Prevention and Intervention” theme, the measure is to “conduct a scoping study and pilot service to prevent child sexual abuse re-offending” (National Office for Child Safety, 2021, p.38). The project aimed to inform the design and implementation of an Australian pilot of one or more community-based, post-custodial programs for reintegrating PCSOs. It sought to understand whether and how a program(s) of this nature might work in the Australian context, given Australia’s unique socio-demographic, geographical and political context.