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

33 results found

Vermont - Probation Conditions

15) Participate in the Restorative Justice Program conducted by a community reparative board, pursuant to chapter 12 of this title. The court may direct a reparative board to assist in determining restitution to the victim, as provided by subdivision (6)…

Vermont - Adult Risk Assessment

(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…

Texas - Fee Payment for Resolution Services

(a) An entity that provides services for the resolution of criminal disputes under this chapter may collect a reasonable fee set by the commissioners court from a person who receives the services, not to exceed $350, except that a fee…

Tennessee - Victim Offender Mediation Center Creation

(a) The general assembly finds and declares that: (1) The resolution of felony, misdemeanor and juvenile delinquent disputes can be costly and complex in a judicial setting where the parties involved are necessarily in an adversarial posture and subject to…

Tennessee - Mediation Rules

Any person who voluntarily enters a dispute resolution process at a center established under this chapter may revoke the person’s consent, withdraw from dispute resolution and seek judicial or administrative redress prior to reaching a written resolution agreement. No legal…

Tennessee - Community Corrections Program

5) Non-Custodial Community Corrections-Non-custodial community corrections options do not involve housing of the offender in a jail, workhouse or community facility. Examples include, but are not limited to: community service supervision; victim restitution supervision and victim/offender mediation; alcohol/drug outpatient treatment;…

Tennessee - Original Victim Offender Act

(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that: (1) the resolution of felony, misdemeanor and juvenile delinquent disputes can be costly and complex in a judicial setting where the parties involved are necessarily in an adversary posture and subject to…

Texas - Victim Offender Mediation/Dialogue

If the pardons and paroles division receives notice from the victim services office of the department that a victim of the defendant, or the victim’s guardian or close relative, wishes to participate in victim-offender mediation with a person released on…