The growth of restitution programs in the United States is one of the most profound phenomena in all of juvenile justice. It is also one of the great success stories of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), an agency of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Barely visible as a juvenile court disposition before 1976, restitution has grown -- with attentive nurturing from OJJDP -- to become a major sentencing option for juvenile courts nationwide. The agency launched a major restitution initiative in 1977, funding a total of 85 programs, and followed it with the National Restitution Training Program in 1983 and the Restitution Education, Specialized Training, and Technical Assistance (RESTTA) Project in 1985. These initiatives are directly responsible for most of the growth of restitution programming.

A principal role of RESTTA is to foster the development of communication and networking among restitution programs so that emerging techniques and technology are shared. One device for accomplishing this is the national conference, held annually since 1986; another is the National Directory of Juvenile Restitution Programs, first published in 1987 and now updated with nearly 200 additional program listings, more descriptive data, and the latest information on programming developments.

The information contained in this edition of the National Directory is based on 760 valid responses to a survey questionnaire mailed to 3,599 individuals and agencies in 1991. The mailing list for the survey was compiled from lists maintained by RESTTA; the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse (JJC); the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; the American Restitution Association (ARA); the Community Service Sentencing Association; State restitution associations in Ohio, Minnesota, and Wisconsin; and the national directory of the American Correctional Association. Two months after the first mailing, questionnaires were sent again to a targeted list of nonrespondents.

¹ Material in the introductory section (pp. 1-27) remains as provided in the 1991 survey. The subsequent restitution descriptions, which constitute the bulk of this document, are updated through 1996.