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One Year Anniversary December 2019 We are overwhelmed by the support and encouragement we've received since launching our Campaign to End Life Imprisonment one year ago today. We've spent the past year traveling around the country with our book, The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences, engaging and listening to impacted individuals, policymakers, law enforcement groups, advocates, and academics about how to promote public safety by scaling back sentences for people convicted of violent offenses. We were even featured on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah! The Sentencing Project looks forward to continuing our work with you to advance our Campaign in the coming year. (Pictured above: Katherine Beckett of the University of Washington, Marc Mauer of The Sentencing Project, Sam Lewis of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Ashley Nellis of The Sentencing Project, and Kerry Myers of the Louisiana Parole Project discuss ending life imprisonment at the American Society of Criminology’s 2019 Annual Meeting.) | |
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Legislation to address life imprisonment was introduced in at least twenty-two states in 2019. Proposals included repealing life without parole as a sentencing option to ensuring timely parole reviews for persons with life sentences. | |
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To build momentum for state efforts, advocates organized several strategy sessions to discuss legislative proposals and reform tactics. This year, statewide convenings were held in California, Michigan, and Louisiana. These strategy sessions fostered strategic discussion on introducing law changes. Participants also discussed media and organizing strategies in support of reforms. | |
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Growing Support for Second Look | |
Over 50 national organizations, including civil rights, faith and legal groups, called on Congress to support a “second look” at long federal sentences and offer people who have rehabilitated and aged out of crime an opportunity for release. Since Congress ended parole the federal prison population has increased 260%, and half of the people in prison are serving a sentence longer than 10 years. | |
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Victor Torres advocates on behalf of his father and uncle who are serving a life sentence in federal prison. “Overcrowded federal prisons and staffing shortages have contributed to dangerous conditions and limited opportunities for rehabilitation,” wrote the coalition in a letter to Capitol Hill. “The Second Look Act provides an opportunity to safely reduce our prison population by alleviating our bloated prison system of wasteful and ineffective sentences.” | |
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After 25 years, Congress may reverse its ban on Pell Grant eligibility for people in prison and substantially expand their access to college classes. In October, the House Education and Labor Committee approved the College Affordability Act. | | | |
The broad education measure would not limit eligibility among incarcerated people. However, the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander introduced his own higher education bill that would exclude from eligibility those serving a sentence of life without parole. Over the summer, over 400 teachers and corrections education experts wrote both the Senate and House Committees urging that the 53,000 people serving life without parole not be excluded, saying “A college-educated life-sentenced individual can inspire and inform those around them. Those who teach in prison regularly witness the role that people serving life play in prison communities as role models and leaders.” | | | | | | | |
Sentencing youth to potentially lifelong imprisonment is virtually nonexistent anywhere else in the world. Despite evidence that adolescent brain development should mitigate the culpability of youth, all states allow juveniles to be sentenced to life imprisonment, and all but two states have persons serving a life or “virtual life” sentence for a crime committed as a juvenile. Get the facts here. | | | |
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OPINION | NANCY GERTNER AND MARC MAUER
Taking a second look at life imprisonment Arnie King has been serving a sentence of life without parole in Massachusetts since 1972 for the murder of John Labanara. King was a high school dropout addicted to drugs and alcohol. He was seeking his next high the night he killed Labanara. Over the last 47 years, King has changed his life. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston University, has spoken to at-risk youths about making better choices in their lives, and has received awards for his community leadership, including the anti-racism leadership Award from Simmons College. Still, despite the time he has served and his rehabilitation, he has failed to secure a sentence commutation from the governor that would make him eligible for parole. Read the full op-ed here. | |
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Messages from People Serving Life | |
Everyday we receive mail from people serving life sentences. The circumstances of their crimes are often tragic but the Campaign to End Life Imprisonment hopes to show that decades later people change and deserve a second chance. | |
I have been locked up since I was 17 years old. I am now 54 years old. I have a parolable life sentence for 2nd degree murder. A crime I did commit and everyday I regret. I am not sorry only because I am in prison. I am a thousand times more sorry because I understand how valuable and precious life is. I am sorry because I understand when I took his life, I also destroyed all his hopes and dreams, as well as all of his family’s hopes and dreams regarding him and the love they shared. — Person serving a life sentence in Michigan | |
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