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 agency shall adopt policies, rules, and regulations that improve crime victim satisfaction with the criminal justice system, including all of the following: […] (e) Facilitating victim-offender dialogue if the victim is willing.
Subdivision 1. First-time juvenile petty offenders; applicability; procedure. (a) This subdivision applies to a child alleged to be a juvenile petty offender who: (1) has not been previously adjudicated delinquent or as a petty offender; (2) has not previously participated…
Subdivision 1. Definition. As used in this section, “restorative practices” means a practice within a program or policy that incorporates core restorative principles, including but not limited to voluntariness, prioritization of agreement by the people closest to the harm on…
(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…
(a) Except when a sentence of life imprisonment is required by law, or when a mandatory minimum sentence is required by section 609.11, any court may stay imposition or execution of sentence and: (1) may order intermediate sanctions without placing…
Subd. 2. Establishment of program. By July 1, 1995, every county attorney shall establish a pretrial diversion program for offenders. If the county attorney’s county participates in the Community Corrections Act as part of a group of counties under section…
Subdivision 1. Grants. The executive director of the Office of Justice Programs in the Department of Public Safety shall award grants to nonprofit organizations to create or expand mediation programs for crime victims and offenders. For purposes of this section,…
A community-based organization, in collaboration with a local governmental unit, may establish a restorative justice program. A restorative justice program is a program that provides forums where certain individuals charged with or petitioned for having committed an offense meet with…
(a) Upon conviction of a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor the court, if sentence is imposed, may, to the extent authorized by law, sentence the defendant: […] (6) to perform work service in a restorative justice program in addition to any…
“Probation violation sanction”: (1) includes but is not limited to electronic monitoring, intensive probation, sentencing to service, reporting to a day reporting center, substance use disorder or mental health treatment or counseling, community work service, remote electronic alcohol monitoring, random…