According to the International Institute for Restorative Practices (2018), restorative practices is "a social science that studies relationships between individuals and communities."
 

It acts as an opportunity for those in a community with each other to:
    - Set the expectations for how that community will function;
    - Maintain a healthy community; and
    - Come together to repair harm, when harm is done to the community.

"First, adjudication-only models fail to address conflicts that often underlie behavior brought to the attention of student conduct administrators...

Second, adjudication seldom acts to intentionally restore a community harmed by a students actions...

Finally, a single-process option does not appreciate the diversity of the population it attempts to serve."

- Jennifer Meyer Schrage & Nancy Geist Giacomini, Reframing Campus Conflict