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).
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that, as part of a restorative justice framework, a school use alternatives to a referral of a pupil to a law enforcement agency in response to an incident involving the pupil’s misuse…
(a) The superintendent of a school district, the principal of a school, or the principal’s designee may refer a victim of, witness to, or other pupil affected by, an act of bullying, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (r)…
(c) For a pupil who has been suspended, or for whom other means of correction have been implemented pursuant to subdivision (b), for an incident of racist bullying, harassment, or intimidation, local educational agencies are encouraged to have both the…
(a) A local educational agency that receives a grant shall use the grant funds for planning, implementation, and evaluation of activities in support of evidence-based, nonpunitive programs and practices to keep the state’s most vulnerable pupils in school. These activities…
(b) “Community school” means a public school serving preschool, transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, with strong and intentional community partnerships ensuring pupil learning and whole child and family development, and specifically includes the following:…