The inner circle meets regularly to facilitate the core member's practical needs (i.e., access to medical services, social assistance, attainment of employment/affordable housing, etc.
), to provide emotional support, to develop constructive and pro-social strategies to address everyday problems, and to challenge the behaviors and attitudes of the core member that may be associated with his offending cycle.
[4] According to Susan Love, the Ottawa Program Director for Circles of Support and Accountability, CoSA was started by the Mennonite pastor Harry Nigh, who befriended a mentally delayed, repeat sex offender—a man who had been in and out of institutions his entire life.
The CoSA model has provided hope that communities can assist in risk management; the end results are greater safety for potential victims and increased accountability for released offenders.
Two Canadian studies have focused on the relative rates of reoffending between CoSA Core Members and matched comparison subjects who were not afforded participation in a Circle.
Further analysis revealed that participation in MnCoSA significantly reduced the chance (hazard ratio) of re-arrest by 62%, of technical violation revocations by 72%, and any re-incarceration by 84%.
An academic review[13] following that report highlighted a number of methodological limitations in the prior studies, which included: The report authors conclude that, “[given] the varying quality of the previous outcome studies in terms of retroactive matching of experimental and control samples, imperfect methods for matching, the integrity of statistical analyses, and the lack of statistically significant experimental results, it could be argued that at this time there is not enough evidence to claim that CoSA is proven to be effective in its programmatic aims.” (p. 116).
Filmmaker Bess O'Brien's 2018 documentary, Coming Home, focuses on five Vermonters returning to their communities after incarceration, each of whom who enter a CoSA seeking support.