This manual, developed by Rev. Debra W. Haffner, Director of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing and an ordained Unitarian Universalist Minister, offers information and procedural suggestions for leaders faced with the difficult task of helping the congregation decide if and how to include a sexual offender in their religious community.

Although the number of sexual offenders behind bars continues growing, most eventually spend a portion of their sentence under some form of community supervision. Communities are best served when they have mechanisms in place that allow these offenders to participate productively in community life while holding them accountable for the harm caused by sexual assault and minimizing the likelihood of further assaults on their part. When sexual crimes are committed within families, relationships between victims and abusers may be especially multi-dimensional and complex, necessitating exceptionally sensitive and sophisticated management.