Session Submission Summary

The Changing Landscape of Life Sentences: Institutions, Policy, and Lived Experience

Fri, Nov 20, 12:30 to 1:50pm, Salon 2 - 3rd Floor

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

This panel examines life sentences from multiple perspectives, highlighting how institutional context, policy change, and lived experience shape the meaning and consequences of extreme punishment in the United States. The first paper analyzes prosecutorial decision-making in Texas following the introduction of life without parole (LWOP), assessing whether county-level economic conditions influence decisions to pursue the death penalty or LWOP in capital cases. By situating prosecutorial discretion within the political economy of punishment, the study considers how fiscal constraints shape the administration of the most severe penalties. The second paper examines the growth of the lifer population in Wyoming since the 1980s, using legal analysis and case studies to challenge assumptions that individuals convicted of serious crimes must remain incarcerated for life. The final paper presents the first national study of hope among individuals sentenced to juvenile life without parole, drawing on survey data from incarcerated people across 20 states to examine how policy environments shape perceptions of possibility and despair.

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Co-sponsored by the Division on Corrections and Sentencing and the Division of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology.

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