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 chancery court, or the chancellor in vacation, or judge granting the writ, shall have power to punish any person for breach of injunction, or any other order, decree, or process of the court, by fine or imprisonment, or both,…
The Supreme, circuit, chancery and county courts and the Court of Appeals shall have power to fine and imprison any person guilty of contempt of the court while sitting, but the fine shall not exceed One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) for…
At the discretion of the court, any person found in contempt for failure to pay child support and imprisoned therefor may be referred for placement in a state, county or municipal restitution, house arrest or restorative justice center or program,…
The director is authorized to establish a program of restorative justice within the department’s correctional centers and to require that offenders offer acts and expressions of sincere remorse for the offense committed and its impact on the victims and the…
2. The report of the presentence investigation or preparole investigation shall contain any prior criminal record of the defendant and such information about his or her characteristics, his or her financial condition, his or her social history, the circumstances affecting…
8. Courts shall retain discretion to lower or exceed the sentence recommended by the commission as otherwise allowable by law, and to order restorative justice methods, when applicable. 9. If the imposition or execution of a sentence is suspended, the…
2. In addition to such other authority as exists to order conditions of probation, the court may order such conditions as the court believes will serve to compensate the victim, any dependent of the victim, any statutorily created fund for…
5. In communities where local volunteer community boards are established at the request of the court, the following guidelines apply: (1) The department shall provide a program of training to eligible volunteers and develop specific conditions of a probation program…
(b)(1) The purpose of the Fund is to make use of the savings from the implementation of the recommendations of the Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council. (2) Subject to paragraph (3) of this subsection, the Board may recommend to the Executive…
(e) “Wraparound services” means: […] (5) Additional social workers, mentors, counselors, psychologists, and restorative practice coaches;