From the Sentencing Project report, No End in Sight: America's Enduring Reliance on Life Imprisonment:
Key Findings:
One in 7 people in U.S. prisons is serving a life sentence, either life without parole (LWOP), life with parole (LWP) or virtual life (50 years or more), totaling 203,865 people;
The number of people serving life without parole — the most extreme type of life sentence — is higher than ever before, a 66% increase since our first census in 2003;
29 states had more people serving life in 2020 than just four years earlier;
30% of lifers are 55 years old or more, amounting to more than 61,417 people;
3,972 people serving life sentences have been convicted for a drug-related offense and 38% of these are in the federal prison system;
More than two-thirds of those serving life sentences are people of color;
One in 5 Black men in prison is serving a life sentence;
Latinx individuals comprise 16% of those serving life sentences;
One of every 15 women in prison is serving life;
Women serving LWOP increased 43%, compared to a 29% increase among men, between 2008 and 2020;
The population serving LWOP for crimes committed as youth is down 45% from its peak in 2016;
8,600 people nationwide are serving parole-eligible life or virtual life sentences for crimes committed as minors.
Read the full report here.
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