The Expansion of LWOP in Three States: A County-Level Study

• In Event: Policy Decisions and Justice System Practices

Abstract

The United States stands alone in the world in its frequent use of extreme sentences. As states consider various criminal justice reforms to scale back the effects of mass incarceration, more attention is needed on the expansion of sanctions at the deep end of the punishment scale. The present study examines individual sentences of life-without-parole (LWOP) annually and going back to 1990 in three states. This county-level analysis controls for various relevant factors in examining patterns of sentencing over time to reveal contributing factors to the spread of LWOP.

Author

• Ashley Nellis, The Sentencing Project