Even in a spirited debate about its effectiveness and sustainability, restorative justice is now considered a new systematic legal proposal. The requirements of this meta-model include a criminal phenomenon through relational and inter-subjective reading, considering the crime in terms of injury to people. Also, they pose considerable attention to the needs of the victim and programme restorative actions on authors of the crime. This approach is sometimes considered difficult to apply. Starting from the legal environment to existing literature, this research investigates the coherence between the meta-theoretical framework of reparative justice and some operational practices implemented in different European countries. With a systematic review of practices considered, it has outlined the state of the art of its application, describing critical issues and strengths, as well as providing important points, to be considered for theorists, professionals and experts involved in the development of alternative models to punishment.   Keywords: Restorative justice, penal justice, offender, victim, review. tim, Review.