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) Creation. There is created the Coordinated Justice Reform Advisory Council to establish a unified and collaborative State approach to support State and local community-based programs and services that are consistent with Vermont’s restorative justice policy pursuant to section 2a…
(a) Notwithstanding section 1967 of this title, community justice centers may accept referrals for domestic violence and sexual violence cases, provided the community justice center has a current and executed memorandum of understanding with a local member organization of the…
Each community justice center: (1) shall work in close coordination with State agencies, law enforcement agencies, State’s Attorneys, social service providers, victim advocacy organizations, and other community resources in administering the programs defined in subdivision 1964(a)(3) of this title; (2)…
(a) State policy. It is the policy of this State that principles of restorative justice be included in shaping how the criminal justice system responds to persons charged with or convicted of criminal offenses, and how the State responds to…
(2) The court may order the person to engage in pretrial services. Pretrial services may include the pretrial services coordinator: (A) supporting the person in meeting conditions of release imposed by the court, including the condition to appear for judicial…
(2) If the child participates in such a screening, the Department or the community provider shall report the risk level result of the screening, the number and source of the collateral contacts made, and the recommendation for charging or other…
(3) Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a court from requiring participation in the Restorative Justice Program established in chapter 12 of this title.
This chapter establishes a program of restorative justice for use with offenders required to participate in such a program as a condition of a sentence of probation or as ordered for civil contempt of a child support order under 15…
(a) Creation. There is created the Restorative Justice Study Committee for the purpose of conducting a comprehensive examination of whether there is a role for victim-centered restorative justice principles and processes in domestic and sexual violence and stalking cases.
(a) Each community justice center: (1) shall have an advisory board comprising at least 51 percent citizen volunteers; (2) may use a variety of community-based restorative justice approaches, including restorative justice panels, group conferencing, or mediation; and (3) shall include…