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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124 results found

D.C. - Facilities, Treatment, and Services for Youth Offenders

(2) The strategic plan shall include recommendations for adopting and implementing inter-agency programming by District agencies to address the following: […] (C) Best practices in restorative justice for victims, youth offenders, including for youth offenders convicted of violent offenses, and…

D.C. - Duties for setting up Juvenille Justice

(3) Establishing and adopting best practices standards for the provision of residential, restorative, and rehabilitative services to youth in the juvenile justice system consistent with the standards of the American Correctional Association or those of another nationally accepted accrediting body

Colorado - Legislative Declaration

(2) The general assembly finds that the public has the right to safe and secure homes and communities and that when a delinquent act occurs, safety and security is compromised; and the result is harm to the victim, the community,…

Connecticut - State and Local Police Training Programs

On and after January 1, 2017: (1) Each police basic or field training program conducted or administered by the Division of State Police within the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection shall provide a minimum of twenty-seven hours of…

Connecticut - Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee

(k) Not later than January 1, 2017, the committee shall submit a report, in accordance with section 11-4a, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations, the judiciary, human services and children…

Colorado - Juvenile Parole

(b)(I) Based upon a request and recommendation by the division of youth services, the board may discharge all or a portion of a juvenile’s period of parole, as defined in section 19-2.5-1117(1)(b), without holding a hearing before the board or…