Restorative Justice Laws Database

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).

Massachusetts Minnesota Montana North Dakota Hawaii Idaho Washington Arizona California Colorado Nevada New Mexico Oregon Utah Wyoming Arkansas Iowa Kansas Missouri Nebraska Oklahoma South Dakota Louisiana Texas Connecticut New Hampshire Rhode Island Vermont Alabama Florida Georgia Mississippi South Carolina Illinois Indiana Kentucky North Carolina Ohio Tennessee Virginia Wisconsin West Virginia Delaware District of Columbia Maryland New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Maine Michigan Alaska

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  • Form of Law

  • Form of Practice

46 results found

Minnesota - Community Supervision, Targeted Innovation Grants

(b) The commissioner must award grants to applicants that operate, or intend to operate, innovative programs that target specific aspects of community supervision that align with risk, need, and responsivity principles. When awarding grants, the commissioner must seek to ensure…

Massachusetts - Marijuana Regulation Fund

(b) Money in the fund shall be subject to appropriation. Money in the fund shall be expended for the implementation, administration and enforcement of this chapter by the commission and by the department of agricultural resources for the implementation, administration…

Maryland - Teacher Collaborative Grant Program

(4) A professional development program developed under the Program shall provide training and education in one or more of the following: […] (iii) Effective management of student behavior, including training in the use of restorative practices and trauma-informed approaches to…

Maryland - Services Supplied by Community Schools, Funding

(c) Eligible interventions for which a community school may receive funding include academic services, parental involvement programs, physical and behavioral health services, and community involvement programs. […] (3) Physical and mental health services include: […] (ii) Juvenile justice system involvement…

Maryland - Performance Incentive Grant Fund

(b)(1) The purpose of the Fund is to make use of the savings from the implementation of the recommendations of the Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council. (2) Subject to paragraph (3) of this subsection, the Board may recommend to the Executive…

Kentucky - State/Executive Branch Budget

(2) Restorative Justice: Included in the above General Fund (Tobacco) appropriation is $250,000 in each fiscal year to support the Restorative Justice Program administered by the Volunteers of America.

Kansas - Grants to Counties for Juvenile Community Correctional Services

The secretary of corrections may make grants to counties for the development, implementation, operation and improvement of juvenile community correctional services including, but not limited to, restitution programs; victim services programs; balanced and restorative justice programs; preventive or diversionary correctional…