Policy Brief
Vermont Must End Life Without Parole
Vermont must pursue new reforms to undo the harmful and ineffective warehousing of people that life sentences result in and to offer opportunities for rehabilitation and redemption.
Related to: Sentencing Reform, State Advocacy
Overview
Vermont’s prison population has declined over 30% since reaching its peak in 2009. Policy reforms prioritized by state lawmakers and practitioners over the years can be credited with this impressive outcome. Over this same time period, however, the number of people serving Vermont’s most extreme sentence, life without the possibility of parole, has only increased, standing at odds with the state’s attempts to scale back prison growth.
