Restorative Justice

This is a prison housing unit program for young adults that seeks to change correctional culture and increase safety. The program is rated Promising. Young adults in the treatment group had a statistically significant lower likelihood of violent charges and convictions, compared with the control group. There were no statistically significant differences between treatment and control groups on the number of disciplinary charges or convictions, or serious incidents or events in the facilities.

This is a school program to address student misbehavior and repair harm. The program is rated No Effects. Middle schoolers in the treatment group had a statistically significant higher likelihood of disciplinary referrals and out-of-school suspensions, compared with comparison group students, which was the opposite of what was intended. There were no statistically significant differences in disciplinary referrals or suspensions between high schoolers in the treatment and the comparison groups.

This is a prosecutor-led pretrial diversion program to rehabilitate individuals with misdemeanor or felony offenses who are at low risk of reoffending. The program is rated Effective. There were statistically significant reductions in the rearrest rate, days to rearrest, and cases dismissed for treatment group individuals, compared with comparison group individuals, at the 2-year follow-up.

This is a prosecutor-led diversion program for nonviolent defendants, which is designed to decrease the number of convictions and reduce recidivism while improving administrative efficiency and cost effectiveness. The program is rated No Effects. The program had a statistically significant effect on reducing the likelihood of conviction, but there was no statistically significant effect on recidivism for program participants, compared with comparison participants.

This is a school-based program that integrates a case-management framework for providing social support to truant youth. The goals of the program are to improve school attendance and renew progress toward graduation. This program is rated Promising. Students in the intervention group were more likely to have graduated and less likely to have dropped out than students in the comparison group.

This program combines enhanced employment opportunities and wraparound services for incarcerated persons before and after release from prison. The program is rated Promising. There was a statistically significant reduction in likelihood of rearrests for program group participants, compared with the control group. There was also a lower rate of reimprisonment for program participants than nonparticipants; however, this difference was not statistically significant.

This is a restorative justice program that uses face-to-face conferences to reduce posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among burglary/robbery victims and reconviction rates among those who committed the offense. The program is rated Promising. Results showed a statistically significant reduction in victims’ clinical levels of PTSS, but no statistically significant effect on reconviction rates among those who committed the offense.

This program provides an alternative to juvenile court processing for youths with justice system contact who may or may not have a criminal record. The program is rated Promising. Although there was no statistically significant difference between the treatment and comparison groups on rates of official police contact, the average number of days to re-arrest was statistically significantly lower for the treatment group (441.7 days) than for the comparison group (254.1 days).

This program consisted of a comprehensive, neighborhood-based, family-focused service delivery model that employed wraparound services and case management for justice-involved families with identified substance abuse problems. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group youth had a statistically significant decrease in noninstitutional and institutional out-of-home placements, compared with comparison group youth. However, there was no statistically significant difference in recidivism.

This program comprises a violence prevention curriculum, which is designed to assist youth in detention to overcome obstacles such as gangs, violence, crime, and substance abuse. The program is rated Effective. Treatment group youth who participated in the program had lower rates of recidivism and took a longer amount of time to recidivate, compared with control group youth, at the 1-year follow up. These differences were statistically significant.

This is a restorative justice program that provides juveniles who have been convicted of an offense and their victims the opportunity to meet face to face in the presence of a mediator to discuss the offense. The program is rated Promising. Individuals in the program were statistically significantly more likely to complete their restitution obligation. There was a statistically significant impact on victim satisfaction with the justice system, but there was no statistically significant impact on

This is a restorative justice program that uses conferencing to repair the harm. The program is rated Promising. Participants had a statistically significant lower likelihood of committing violent offenses, and a greater likelihood of reporting a belief in the law, negative attitude toward reoffending, and greater effort to not drive drunk, compared with the control group. There were mixed findings in the rate of drunk driving, and no difference in property crimes, shoplifting, or recidivism.

This is a restorative justice diversion program for young people who have been convicted of an offense for the first time. It was designed to break their cycle of offending before they commit more offenses. The program is rated Promising. Program youth showed a statistically significant reduction in number of rearrests, compared with control youth, at the 2-year follow up. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the groups in time to rearrest.

This restorative justice program requires persons convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol to attend panels at which they listen to victims give short presentations describing the pain and loss they have suffered due to a drunk driver. The program is rated Promising. After 5 years, there was a statistically significant decrease in rearrests for participants, compared with those who did not attend.