Evaluating Circles ReBoot – A new Circle of Support and Accountability for people who access Child Sexual Exploitation Material

In 2020, Circles UK developed Circles ReBoot, a Circle format targeted specifically at individuals with a history of accessing online child sexual exploitation material (Circles ReBoot – Circles UK (circles-uk.org.uk). In line with the Risk Need Responsivity principles (Bonta & Andrews, 2007), Circles ReBoot is (a) shorter than a “traditional” Circle (12 sessions over a 6-month period) and (b) offers a more structured format, focused on achieving goals and fostering skills development. The aim is for Core Members and Volunteers to work through the sessions to enable Core Members to more healthily and prosocially deal with challenges they face in the community and pursue a proactively offence-free lifestyle. The programme methodology is based on a desistance approach, which advocates focusing on supporting the individual to identify and develop strengths that enable desistance from offending behaviour (e.g., Marshall & Marshall, 2012). Evaluation An initial pilot of Circles ReBoot was conducted between 2021-23 and sought to answer the following questions: • Can the programme attract referrals and be delivered? • To what extent does Circles ReBoot deliver its stated goals? • What factors (personal, interpersonal, systemic, and situational) are associated with success?