Life Without Parole

States Offering Life Without Parole - See Below

Years That States Adopted LWOP

Life Without Parole News and Developments - Current Year

Life Without Parole News and Developments - Previous Years

2011  2010  2009  2008  2007  2006  2005  2004  2003

 
Death Penalty States
offering Life Without Parole*
(34/34 states)
Alabama Kansas Oregon
Arizona Kentucky Pennsylvania
Arkansas Louisiana South Carolina
California Maryland South Dakota
Colorado Mississippi Tennessee
Connecticut Missouri Texas
Delaware Montana Utah
Florida Nebraska Virginia
Georgia Nevada Washington
Idaho New Hampshire Wyoming
Indiana North Carolina plus-
  Ohio Federal Statute
  Oklahoma Military Statute
     


* Note that "three strikes" laws in some states may make life without parole available for at least some offenders in those states.
Non-Death Penalty States offering Life Without Parole (15/16 states)
Hawaii Minnesota Rhode Island
Illinois New Jersey Vermont
Iowa
Maine New Mexico West Virginia
Massachusetts New York Wisconsin  
Michigan North Dakota plus-District of Columbia
[Alaska does not have life without parole]  
 
Serving Life - Trailer

Serving Life documents an extraordinary hospice program where hardened criminals care for dying fellow inmates. Narrated and executive produced by Academy Award®-winner Forest Whitaker, the film takes viewers inside Louisiana's maximum security prison at Angola, where the average sentence is more than 90 years.  Premiered on OWN Thursday, July 28.  Read more: http://www.oprah.com/own-doc-club/Serving-Life-Trailer#ixzz1USJAS6uK

 

 Resources:

Fact Sheet on prison killings from Equal Justice USA.

"Death Penalty Not Needed to Prevent Prison Murder." Death Penalty Focus

A. Nellis and R. King, No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences In America, The Sentencing Project ( 2009). Read a summary by DPIC.

R. Johnson and A. Dobrzanska, "Mature coping among life-sentenced inmates: an exploratory study of adjustment dynamics," Corrections Compendium. (November 2005).

A. Liptak, "To More Inmates, Life Term Means Dying Behind Bars," New York Times, October 2, 2005.

DPIC Summary: The Sentencing Project's Report, "The Meaning of 'Life': Long Prison Sentences in Context" (2004).

Sentencing for Life: Americans Embrace Alternatives to the Death Penalty (DPIC Report 1993).

M. Lane, "Is there life without parole? A capital defendant's right to a meaningful alternative sentence," 26 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 327 (1993).