Life Without Parole

Ross Kleinstuber is an Associate Professor of Justice Administration & Criminology at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. His research focuses on the intersection of law and society, capital punishment, life without parole, mass incarceration, racial inequality in the justice system, and human rights abuses.Jeremiah Coldsmith holds a PhD in sociology. His individual research focuses on the intersection of identity and stratification, and as a methodologist and statistician, he has an active research, in collaboration with Dr. Kleinstuber, that focuses on quantifying LWOP’s effects on violent crime rates.Margaret E. Leigey is a Professor and Chair of Criminology at The College of New Jersey. Her research explores the experiences of those serving life without parole, in particular aging individuals, those who were sentenced as juveniles, and women. Sandra Joy a Professor of Sociology at Rowan University, licensed clinical social worker, mental health clinician, and activist in the movement to abolish capital punishment and LWOP. Her research explores the grief and loss issues confronting the families of those on death row, life without parole, and coalition politics in the anti-death penalty movement.

• AcknowledgementsList of FiguresList of TablesIntroduction: Meet the New Death Penalty: Life Without ParoleReferencesPart I: Examining the Abolitionist Case for LWOP1. Is LWOP Inhumane? The View from Death RowThe Phenomenon of Death Row "Volunteers"The Perspective of the Non-VolunteersThe Experience of Being Resentenced from Death to LWOPConclusionReferences2. Is LWOP Inhumane? The View from Those Serving LWOPExecution and "Execution by Installment": Perceptions of Those Serving Informal and Formal Death SentencesOn "Being Dead While You're Still Alive": A Study of California’s Recent Propositions to Abolish the Death PenaltyThe Pains of Permanent Imprisonment: Quantitative and Qualitative Findings "An Inescapable Burden": Maturation and Change Under Permanent Punishment"An Invisible Entity:" The Experiences of Women Perpetually IncarceratedConclusion: Life Without Parole "Picks You Apart"References3. LWOP and Human Rights: The View from AbroadBy the NumbersLWOP and Human Rights WorldwideFinal ThoughtsReferences4. Worse Than Death: Innocence and Access to the CourtsSuper Due Process, Life, and DeathSuper Due Process and InnocenceMethodological AppendixReferencesConclusion5. The Price of Life: The Financial Burden of LWOPYes, Death Sentences Cost More Than Life SentencesBut Those Costs Save LivesAnd There Are More Life SentencesSummaryReferences6. LWOP as Racial ControlThe Death Penalty is Racial Control and LWOP is the Death PenaltyLWOP Targets the DisadvantagedJuvenile LWOPConclusion: A War on Which Crimes?ReferencesPart II: Examining the "Tough-On-Crime" Case for LWOP7. LWOP and the War on CrimeEnactment of LWOP Statutes and Violent CrimeThe Effect of Using LWOP More Frequently on Violent CrimeConclusionMethodological AppendixReferences8. Is LWOP Just Retribution or Cruel & Unusual Punishment?LWOP Violates the Core Principles of RetributionRetribution Does Not Benefit Most VictimsConclusionReferences9. The Power of Second Chances: Stories of RedemptionThe SubjectsEarly Days in PrisonMaturation, the Influence of their Elders, and the Road to RedemptionFinding Redemption and Giving BackConclusionReferencesConclusion & RecommendationsPolicy RecommendationsReferencesIndex

"The authors meticulously examine each justification used in America's unyielding reliance on sentences of life without the possibility of parole. Readers will come away from this book convinced that such extreme sentences are both inhumane and unnecessary on public safety grounds." - Ashley Nellis, Senior Research Analyst, The Sentencing Project"Life Without Parole offers readers a comprehensive account of the role and impact of LWOP in the US. The book relies on various sources and methods, including the powerful voices of individuals who are serving life without the possibility of parole to illustrate the human and societal costs of this form of punishment. I recommend this book to those who study criminal justice sanctions, as well as those seeking to reduce inequality in the justice system." - Professor Nancy Rodriguez, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of California, Irvine"Life Without Parole by Ross Kleinstuber, Jeremiah Coldsmith, Margaret Leigey and Sandra Joy makes a clear and compelling case that LWOP—life without parole—is a death penalty in its own right that should be abolished. This sanction, we learn from compelling interviews with affected inmates, is no more humane than capital punishment and may indeed create more suffering and injustice than the traditional death penalty. Real reform requires sentences that offer hope of release from prison, however tenuous that hope might be in individual cases." - Professor Rob Johnson, Justice, Law, & Criminology, American University