Women Making A Difference: Sunny Schwartz
Disruption Magazine, December 2024
Mariam Ibrahim
Inside The Life Sentence: Sunny Schwartz on Healing, Hope, and Justice Behind Bars
Sunny Schwartz wants to build hope in the criminal justice system. For more than four decades, she’s pushed against the conventional boundaries, blending empathy with accountability in a system often focused solely on punishment. As founder of the Resolve to Stop the Violence Project (RSVP) and Five Keys Schools and Programs, Schwartz challenges inmates, especially men, to confront their choices, heal from past traumas, and envision futures they once believed impossible.
“Crime hurts everyone—victim, offender, community—and creates an obligation to make things right.” Sunny Schwartz
Schwartz’s journey took a significant turn in the mid-90s when she encountered restorative justice. “Crime hurts everyone—victim, offender, community—and creates an obligation to make things right,” she recalls, sharing the philosophy that drove her to launch RSVP, one of the nation’s first initiatives focused on restorative justice for incarcerated people with histories of violence. She shifts the focus from punishment to accountability, showing that meaningful change often comes from fostering a sense of responsibility.