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).
Not later than January 1, 2022, the Social Emotional Learning and School Climate Advisory Collaborative, established pursuant to section 10-222q, shall convene a working group to (1) review sections 10-222d to 10-222p, inclusive, relating to bullying and safe school climate…
(1)(a) A council to provide assistance and education related to restorative justice programs is hereby established. The council shall be known as the “restorative justice coordinating council” and shall be established in the state judicial department within the office of…
(1) This code shall be construed in such manner as to promote maximum fulfillment of its general purposes, namely: […] (e) To promote acceptance of responsibility and accountability by offenders and to provide restoration and healing for victims and the…
(1) If all of the boards of commissioners of each county or the city council of each city and county in a judicial district agree, there may be created in the judicial district a local juvenile services planning committee that…
(1) In order to preserve and protect a victim’s rights to justice and due process, each victim of a crime has the following rights: […] (l.5) The right to be informed about the possibility of restorative justice practices, as defined…
(11) The district attorney shall inform a victim of the following: […] (g) The availability of restorative justice practices, as defined in section 18-1-901(3)(o.5), C.R.S., which includes victim-offender conferences;
(121) “Restorative justice” has the same meaning as set forth in section 19-2.5-102.
(o.5) “Restorative justice practices” means practices that emphasize repairing the harm caused to victims and the community by offenses. Restorative justice practices include victim-offender conferences, family group conferences, circles, community conferences, and other similar victim-centered practices. Restorative justice practices are…
(1) The general assembly hereby finds that: […] (d) Restorative justice, which requires the offender to accept responsibility and accountability for his or her actions, teaches conflict resolution, repairs the harm from the offense, reduces classroom disruptions, suspensions, expulsions, and…
(1)(a) Each person who is convicted of a crime is required to pay a ten-dollar surcharge to the clerk of the court for the judicial district in which the conviction occurs. (b) The surcharge described in this section does not…