You Do What? A Qualitative Investigation Into the Motivation to Volunteer With Circles of Support and Accountability

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