The National Center on Restorative Justice’s Restorative Justice Laws Database was created as a resource for restorative justice advocates, practitioners, and researchers as well as policy-makers across the United States. Our aim is to organize and display in an easily navigated format the ways in which states have codified the use of restorative justice approaches.
Thank you to Shannon Sliva (University of Denver) and Thalia González (UC Law San Francisco) for their advisement and expertise throughout the process of creating this database. Thank you to Karen Sheu and Anna VanRoy for their data collection work.
This Restorative Justice Laws Database builds on an earlier legislative directory created in 2014 by Shannon Sliva in partnership with Carolyn Lambert (Georgia State University College of Law) and hosted by the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work from 2019 to 2024.
The laws included in this database were identified by conducting a search in Westlaw and LexisNexis using the terms visible under “Form of Practice” in the database search options below. Only laws that feature one or more of these terms are included in the database. Use of the terms in the text of the law does not necessarily mean that restorative justice practice is occurring in the given jurisdiction.
The NCORJ is committed to continuing to update this database. If you see something that is missing or a correction is required, please be in touch. For more information about the development of the database, to get assistance navigating it, or to request a copy of the raw data for research purposes, please contact Lindsey Pointer (lpointer@vermontlaw.edu).
If a person pleads guilty to or is found guilty of a violation of this chapter, the court may order the person to attend a program, such as a victim impact panel, that demonstrates the adverse effects of substance abuse…
(2) The department of justice shall make grants to counties and to tribes to enable them to establish and operate programs, including suspended and deferred prosecution programs and programs based on principles of restorative justice, that provide alternatives to prosecution…
AN ACT to amend and reenact §49-1-206 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §49-4-725 of said code, all relating to the juvenile restorative justice programs; defining the term “restorative justice program”; authorizing…
(a) The court or prosecuting attorney may offer a juvenile, against whom a petition has been filed alleging that the juvenile has committed any of the offenses set forth in subsection (b) of this section, the opportunity to participate in…
“Child welfare agency” means any agency or facility maintained by the state or any county or municipality thereof, or any agency or facility maintained by an individual, firm, corporation, association, or organization, public or private, to receive children for care…
c) For youth placed in programs operated or funded by the Division of Juvenile Services, the department or the Supreme Court of Appeals, including youth reporting centers, juvenile drug courts, restorative justice programs and teen courts, the division, department and…
In addition to penalties that may be imposed under RCW 46.61.5055, the court may require a person who is convicted of a nonfelony violation of RCW 46.61.502 or 46.61.504 or who enters a deferred prosecution program under RCW 10.05.020 based…
(1) The Washington traffic safety commission may develop and maintain a registry of qualified victim impact panels. When imposing a requirement that an offender attend a victim impact panel under RCW 46.61.5152, the court may refer the offender to a…
(1) The office of the attorney general must, by September 1, 2019, coordinate and convene a multidisciplinary hate crime advisory working group for the purpose of developing strategies toward raising awareness of and appropriate responses to hate crime offenses and…
The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall develop and publish best practice guidance to eliminate or reduce student absences and to otherwise implement the requirements of this chapter. The guidance must focus on student and family engagement, be…