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).
(1) The purposes of this code with respect to sentencing are: […] (f) To promote acceptance of responsibility and accountability by offenders and to provide restoration and healing for victims and the community while attempting to reduce recidivism and the…
(3.5)(a) In determining the sentence for a first-time offender convicted of a bias-motivated crime, the court shall consider the following alternatives, which shall be in addition to and not in lieu of any other sentence received by the offender: […]…
(2)(a) Conditions of probation must be customized to each juvenile based on the guidelines developed by the committee on juvenile justice reform pursuant to section 24-33.5-2402, as it existed prior to its repeal in 2022. The court shall, as minimum…
(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…
(2) The purpose of this article is to encourage the establishment of programs to provide for restitution to and restoration of victims of crime by offenders who are sentenced, or who have been released on parole, or who are being…
(4) The department shall make restorative justice practices, as defined in section 18-1-901(3)(o.5), available to any victim of any offender who petitions for placement in the specialized program, as may be appropriate, but only if requested by the victim and…
(3) The department may make restorative justice practices, as defined in section 18-1-901(3)(o.5), C.R.S., available to any victim of any offender who petitions for placement in the specialized program, as may be appropriate, but only if requested by the victim…
(2) If the petition is the first juvenile petition filed against the juvenile in any jurisdiction and is initiated in a jurisdiction that has restorative justice practices available, the district attorney or the district attorney’s designee may determine whether the…
(1)(a) In order to more fully implement the stated objectives of this title 19, the general assembly declares its intent to establish a juvenile diversion program that integrates restorative justice practices to provide community-based alternatives to the formal court system…
(c) If a district attorney is considering filing any criminal charges as a result of a production of records issued pursuant to subsection (4)(a) of this section, the district attorney shall first consider referring the alleged responsible person for an…