U.S.
Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Effectiveness of Restorative Justice Programs
July 2017 • NCJ 250995 ojjdp.gov
Evidence suggests that some restorative justice programs—when compared to traditional
approaches—can reduce future delinquent behavior and produce greater satisfaction for victims.
Research Overview outcomes for the offenders for victim-offender
conferencing, family group conferencing, arbitration/
mediation programs, and circle sentencing programs.
Restorative justice programs seek to repair relations and
However, in the more rigorous studies, the strength of
end discord between youthful offenders and their victims.
these findings diminished, and findings across studies
These types of programs view crime as a violation of
were highly variable. None of the program elements
people and relationships. They emphasize offender
analyzed had a more additive effect than other program
accountability for wrongdoing, respect for participants, and
elements with the exception of including a preconference
keeping the victim central throughout the process as a way
or a premediation meeting.
to repair the relationship between the offender and victim
and reduce future delinquent behavior.
The objective of this research was first to synthesize high
Research Design
quality, quantitative studies that evaluate the effectiveness
The study involved a meta-analysis of randomized and
of various restorative justice programs, and second, to
quasi-experimental studies retrieved from a systematic
evaluate the effect of different restorative justice program
search of 41 electronic databases and 50 state websites.
components, such as apologizing to victims, family
The systematic search for high quality quantitative
participation, and including the victim in the process, to
research identified 84 evaluations nested within 60 unique
name a few. From these studies, researchers extracted
research studies. Researchers extracted data from each
results related to delinquency, nondelinquency, and victim
study, including information related to general study
outcomes for offender and victim participants in restorative
characteristics, features of each treatment and comparison
justice programs.
condition, characteristics of the participant sample,
methodology, outcome measures, and results. The
Research Findings researchers used inverse variance weighted random
effects meta-analysis methods to analyze the effect sizes.
Systematic analysis of studies of restorative justice
programs and practices showed a moderate reduction in Policy/Practice Implications
future delinquent behavior relative to more traditional
juvenile court processing. However, those studies with The findings suggest certain restorative justice programs
stronger research designs (i.e., random assignment could reduce future youth delinquency and increase victim
studies) showed smaller results, raising concerns about satisfaction with the outcome. However, it is unclear how
the robustness of these overall findings. Victim participants much confidence can be placed on these results;
in these programs, however, do appear to experience a additional rigorous evaluations are needed to substantiate
number of benefits and are more satisfied with these the promising effects identified.
programs than traditional approaches to juvenile justice.
Resources
When researchers examined the different program types,
OJJDP.gov: https://www.ojjdp.gov/research/Restorative-
they found promising results in terms of delinquency
Justice-Principles-Juvenile-Justice.html
Source: Wilson, D.B., Olaghere, A., & Kimbrell, C.S. (2017). Effectiveness of restorative justice principles in juvenile justice:
A meta-analysis: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/grants/250872.pdf
________________________________________________________________________________________________
This brief summarizes research conducted under grant number 2015-JF-FX-0063 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view or opinions expressed in this document are those of
the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of OJJDP or the U.S. Department of Justice.
