25-2912.01. Restorative justice practices, restorative justice services, or restorative justice programs; activities to repair harm.
Restorative justice practices, restorative justice services, or restorative justice programs include, but are not limited to, victim youth conferences, victim-offender mediation, family group conferences, circles, peer-to-peer mediation, truancy mediation, victim or community panels, and community conferences. Restorative justice programs may involve restorative projects or classes and facilitated meetings attended voluntarily by the victim, the victim's representatives, or a victim surrogate and the victim's supporters, as well as the youth or adult individual who caused harm and that individual's supporters, whether voluntarily or following a referral for assessment by court order. These meetings may also include community members, when appropriate. By engaging the parties to the offense or harm in voluntary dialogue, restorative justice provides an opportunity for healing for the victim and the individual who harmed the victim by:
(1) Holding the individual who caused harm accountable and providing the individual a platform to accept responsibility and gain empathy for the harm he or she caused to the victim and community;
(2) Providing the victim a platform to describe the impact that the harm had upon himself or herself or his or her family and to identify detriments experienced or any losses incurred;
(3) Providing the opportunity to enter into a reparation plan agreement; and
(4) Enabling the victim and the individual who caused harm the opportunity to agree on consequences to repair the harm, to the extent possible. This includes, but is not limited to, apologies, community service, reparation, restitution, restoration, and counseling.
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