High Value Public Safety: Restorative Justice in Local Government

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Tanya Settles
November 21, 2025

Across the United States, local governments are increasingly exploring restorative justice (RJ) as a strategic approach to public safety, community trust-building and cost-effective justice administration. While restorative justice has long been used in schools and youth diversion programs, its application with adult offenders and adult victims remains underutilized but is steadily growing. This expansion is driven by evidence that communities benefit when justice systems prioritize accountability, healing and long-term safety over purely punitive responses. For local governments, restorative justice represents both a philosophical shift and an operational opportunity.

A More Effective Public Safety Strategy
Traditional justice systems often focus on adjudicating guilt and assigning punishment. Restorative justice focuses instead on repairing harm. In practice, this means structured conversations between victims, offenders and community members, facilitated by trained restorative practitioners. From a juvenile shoplifting incident to an adult assault case, RJ centers the fundamental questions: What harm occurred? What needs to be repaired? What commitments will prevent future harm?

Research and local experience show that restorative processes can reduce recidivism among both youth and adults. Participants often better understand the consequences of their actions when they are directly accountable to the person harmed. Restorative agreements often include concrete steps such as financial restitution or other repairs to harm, apologies, community service or participation in treatment or skills-building programs. For local governments, long-term outcomes may include lower recidivism that translates into reduced policing time, fewer court cases and fewer future victims.

Cost Savings and Administrative Efficiency
Local governments face chronic budget pressures, especially in public safety systems that often dominate appropriations and budget allocations. Restorative justice offers a financially responsible alternative that can reduce caseloads across agencies. Operational and administrative efficiencies can be achieved that offset the costs of more expensive traditional paths to justice. However, it is important to remember that RJ is not free of cost.

Restorative programs often, though not always, allow governments to avoid formal adjudication, detention costs and prolonged supervision. Although robust economic impact studies in the United States remain limited, international evaluations offer promising evidence. For example, a study in England and Wales found a benefit-to-cost ratio of 14:1. Many American local jurisdictions report that RJ resolution costs a fraction of a comparable court case or short-term detention stay.

Restorative justice can reduce the need for court-appointed attorneys, lengthy hearings and probation caseloads. When appropriate, restorative resolutions can be completed in weeks rather than months or years. In addition to direct financial savings, RJ decreases administrative burdens for police, prosecutors, victim services and courts. Time saved can be reallocated to more serious cases or to community-based prevention strategies, which is critical in smaller jurisdictions with limited resources and staffing.

Strengthening Community Trust and Legitimacy
Trust is one of the most durable predictors of public cooperation with local government. Communities with lower trust in police and government institutions often have higher crime reporting gaps, reduced willingness to participate in civic processes and diminished belief in procedural fairness. A recent study found that when local governments co-produce targeted interventions with communities, trust increases and community members become more likely to proactively report crime and disorder in their neighborhoods.

Restorative justice can yield similar trust-building benefits by making public safety more visible, participatory and humane. Victims often report feeling more respected and heard during restorative processes, and many experience reductions in post-traumatic symptomatology. People who experience harm, including victims and communities, also gain an active role in shaping what accountability looks like. Victims can articulate the impact of the harm, request specific remedies and choose whether to participate. For many, simply being acknowledged is powerful. Others value the opportunity to ask questions that only the responsible person can answer. For communities historically over-policed or under-served, restorative justice reinforces the idea that safety is collaborative and that systems can adapt to community needs.

A Practical, Scalable Tool for Local Government Leaders
Implementing restorative justice does not require dismantling existing systems. Local governments can explore parallel justice pathways that accommodate both restorative and traditional processes. This approach recognizes that justice is unique to the person who experiences it. Some situations are not appropriate for restorative resolution due to safety, voluntary consent or legal restraints. For those that are, government institutions have an opportunity to better serve their communities and achieve efficient outcomes that respect the experiences of people harmed and hold those who cause harm accountable.

Local governments can begin with pilot programs, explore state supported funding options, referrals from police or prosecutors or community-based partnerships with nonprofits or mediation centers. Over time, agencies can develop structured referral criteria, mediator rosters, data systems and evaluation frameworks. The return on investment, financial, social and community-based, is increasingly clear: restorative justice offers a more effective, trusted and humane approach to local public safety.

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Author: Tanya Settles is the CEO of Paradigm Public Affairs, LLC. Tanya’s areas of work include relationship building between local governments and communities, restorative justice and policy and program strategy and evaluation. Tanya can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions in this column and any mistakes are hers alone.

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