This article discusses the components of restorative justice and assesses the restorative character of a system. It further discusses analyses the models of restorative justice systems. It concludes that  the availability of restorative programs is only one indicator; far more important is the importance given to those programs in actual usage. In restorative systems, the values and principles of restorative justice sufficiently predominate and competing values and principles are sufficiently subordinate that the system's processes and outcomes are highly restorative.