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).
The legislature recognizes that incarcerating offenders carries an extremely high cost and may not be the most effective strategy for restoring victims, reforming offenders, and reducing recidivism. It is the intent of 44-7-302 to have the board of crime control…
(1) There is an account in the state special revenue fund established by 17-2-102 to be known as the restorative justice fund. (2) There must be deposited in the account: (a) money received from legislative allocations; (b) a transfer of…
Mediators and restorative justice facilitators of approved centers shall have completed at least thirty hours of basic mediation training, including conflict resolution techniques, neutrality, agreement writing, and ethics. An initial apprenticeship with an experienced mediator shall be required for at…
Restorative justice practices, restorative justice services, or restorative justice programs include, but are not limited to, victim youth conferences, victim-offender mediation, family group conferences, circles, peer-to-peer mediation, truancy mediation, victim or community panels, and community conferences. Restorative justice programs may…
No mediator, restorative justice facilitator, staff member, or member of a governing board of an approved center may be held liable for civil damages for any statement or decision made in the process of restorative justice or dispute resolution unless…
(2) Center means a nonprofit organization or a court-established program which makes dispute resolution procedures and restorative justice services available;
Before the restorative justice or dispute resolution process begins, an approved center shall provide the parties with a written statement setting forth the procedures to be followed.
During the period of the restorative justice or dispute resolution process, any applicable civil statute of limitations shall be tolled as to the parties. The tolling shall commence on the date the approved center accepts the case and shall end…
(10) Develop and supervise a uniform system to create and maintain a roster of approved centers and victim youth conferencing and other restorative justice facilitators who are affiliated with approved centers. The roster shall be made available to courts and…
The Legislature finds that: (1) The resolution of certain disputes and offenses can be costly and time consuming in the context of a formal judicial proceeding; (2) Employing restorative justice and mediation to address disputes can provide an avenue for…