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LIFE SENTENCE

Important Definitions 

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  • Life Sentence: any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted persons are to remain in prison either for the rest of their life or until paroled

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  • ​LWP: Life sentence with a possibility of parole, more specifically: the government maintains the right to keep an individual in prison for his/her life, but there is the potential for release after a certain number of years

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  • LWOP: Life sentence without parole, more specifically: no possibility of release from prison except in the rare case of clemency 

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  • "Virtual" or de facto life sentence: a term of imprisonment that is 50 years or more in which the convicted person is not expected to survive 

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  • Clemency: the grant by the president or the governor of a state of an amnesty, pardon or reprieve of a criminal sentence

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Statistics 

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  • As of 2016, there were 162,000 people serving life sentences in U.S. prisons, or one in every nine people in prison

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  • An additional 44, 311 people are serving "virtual" life sentences​

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  • This makes the total 206,268 people who are serving life and virtual life sentences, or one out of every seven people in prison 

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  • Nearly half of life and virtual life-sentenced individuals are African American, equal to one in five African American prisoners overall 

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  • More than 17,000 prisoners with an LWP, LWOP, or virtual life sentence have been convicted of nonviolent crimes (such as a drug offense)

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  • Nearly 1 in 3 life-sentenced prisoners worldwide is a U.S. prisoner 

What drives life sentences?

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  • Fear           If a prisoner commits a violent crime after they are released, the general public believes that any prisoner would do the same if given the chance

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  • An intense desire for safety 

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  • A single story can set the tone for criminal policy and practice

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  • Elected officials want to seem "tough on crime" for political gain 

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  • "Tough on crime" laws: mandatory minimums, habitual offender laws, and the abolition of parole

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  • Mandatory minimums: sentencing laws that set minimum sentences for certain crimes that judges cannot lower, the most common of these laws deal with drug offenses 

*Information comes from The Sentencing Project

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