Sylvia Clute was a trial attorney for 28 years, and now leads a Unitive Justice (UJ) initiative that aims to transform justice from the punitive model to a model with no punitive elements. UJ addresses the underlying issues that contribute to conflict and crime, thus creating lasting change, and empowering participants to act based on their inherent goodness.

Early in her legal career, Clute realized that there are two fundamental models of justice: vengeance and Love. Law school taught her the vengeance model—retributive justice that is grounded on the moral principle of proportional revenge. For nearly 40 years she has studied how to create a path to Justice as Love, leading to Unitive Justice, a model grounded on the moral principle of lovingkindness. UJ is no longer theory, it is widely taught and implemented: in schools in the U.S. and Uganda, in a prison and in workshops and college-level courses.

Clute’s new book, Unitive Justice: Bending the Arc of Justice Toward Love, sets out how UJ provides a viable alternative to punitive justice in any setting because it is grounded in our shared humanity. She has also authored a novel based on UJ principles, Destiny Unveiled, and the nonfiction, Beyond Vengeance, Beyond Duality: A Call for a Compassionate Revolution.

Her websites are sylviaclute.com and unitivejustice.com.