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).
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that, as part of a restorative justice framework, a school use alternatives to a referral of a pupil to a law enforcement agency in response to an incident involving the pupil’s misuse…
(a) On or before June 1, 2024, the department shall develop evidence-based best practices for restorative justice practice implementation on a school campus and make these best practices available on the department’s internet website for use by local educational agencies…
(e)(1)(A) Of the total amount appropriated under subdivision (b), the Superintendent shall award one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in competitive grants to local educational agencies to increase the number of highly-qualified teachers available to serve California state preschool programs and…
(h) School counselor residency grant recipients shall do all of the following: […] (2) Ensure that candidates are provided instruction in all of the following: […] (E) Promoting and maintaining a safe learning environment for all pupils by supporting the…
(c) A participating district attorney’s office may contract with a qualifying community-based organization for the duration of the pilot. The community-based organization shall have experience working with currently or formerly incarcerated individuals and their support networks, and shall have expertise…
(a) It is the public policy of this state that the principal goals of sentencing for hate crimes, are the following: […] (3) Restorative justice for the immediate victims of the hate crimes and for the classes of persons terrorized…
(15) For the victim, to be notified of the availability of community-based restorative justice programs and processes available to them, including, but not limited to, programs serving their community, county, county jails, juvenile detention facilities, and the Department of Corrections…
(b) The court presiding over a criminal matter shall consider alternatives to incarceration, including, without limitation, collaborative justice court programs, diversion, restorative justice, and probation.
(b) The primary objective of adult incarceration in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall be to facilitate the successful reintegration of the individuals in the department’s care back to their communities equipped with the tools to be drug-free, healthy,…
The primary purpose of the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center shall be to provide humane confinement, rehabilitation and education programming, restorative justice, industrial and other training, treatment, and care to persons confined therein.