Early findings from the 2024 Census of Life-Sentenced Prisoners

• In Event: Perceptions and extent of life sentences

Abstract

The Sentencing Project has been at the forefront of research on the prevalence of life and long-term prison sentences nationwide since 2003. This year’s release marks the sixth edition of our national census and will once again document the use of life imprisonment in the states and federal government. The US is unique in the world in its heavy reliance on long term prison sentences despite a wealth of evidence of ineffectiveness, profound racial disparity, cost, and cruelty. States have begun to incorporate the influence of neuroscientific development on culpability for criminal conduct, particularly as it relates to young age. This year’s census provides the first-ever national figures of people serving life for crimes committed when they were under 26 years old.

Author

• Ashley Nellis, The Sentencing Project