The National Center on Restorative Justice’s (NCORJ) Tribal Restorative Justice Laws Database was created as a resource for restorative justice advocates, practitioners, researchers, and policy-makers—both for tribes and throughout other jurisdictions in the United States. Our aim is to organize and display in an easily navigated format the ways in which tribes have codified the use of restorative justice approaches. This database expands upon NCORJ’s Restorative Justice Laws Database, which lists state restorative justice laws. 

The expansion of the Restorative Justice Laws Database to include tribal laws was a natural one. Contemporary restorative justice has roots in Indigenous cultures and practices, both in the United States and globally, and tribes continue to be leaders in restorative justice practice and systems today. This Tribal Restorative Justice Laws Database shows the many codified restorative justice practices that exist in tribal law and is, to our knowledge, the first time this data has been collected and presented in a public and easily accessible format.

Thank you to Grace Carson for her leadership and expertise in the creation of this database. Thank you also to the research assistants and other individuals who helped on this project: Kylie Belt, Anna VanRoy, Jonathan Eagle, Sarah Bowman, and Jennifer Maupin. 

The NCORJ is committed to continuing to update this database. This database was last updated in January 2026. 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).

NOTES REGARDING THE TRIBAL CODES AND TRIBES INCLUDED IN THE DATABASE

Tribal Code Accessibility 

Many tribes’ legal codes are not included in this database due to the fact that those tribes do not have their code published and/or do not wish to share their code with the public. The codes in this database should not be considered the only tribal restorative justice laws to exist. 

Tribes Included

The tribes included in the Tribal Restorative Justice Laws Database are those who are federally recognized. Federally recognized tribes are those that are formally acknowledged by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs as holding a government-to-government relationship with the federal government. As such, these tribes have recognized tribal sovereignty. With recognized tribal sovereignty comes the right to tax, make and enforce laws, and regulate activities. Important for this database, federal recognition comes with established tribal criminal jurisdiction (though, this jurisdiction is dependent on where the tribe is located, among other factors). Tribes that are not federally recognized (i.e., are only state recognized) lack the ability to exercise the same rights and powers that tribes whose sovereignty is formally acknowledged by the federal government, and as such, lack tribal criminal jurisdiction (though, tribes that are not federally recognized may be able to establish restorative justice practices and efforts through other means, such as through social services, grant funded projects, and intergovernmental agreements with the state). Because of this, we decided to limit the tribes included in this database to those that are federally recognized. We acknowledge that the recognition process for tribes is a product of settler colonialism, and purposefully exclusionary. We do not view tribes that are not federally recognized as any less valid than those that are.  

Additional Information