New Report: Youth and Emerging Adults in Wisconsin Serve Cruel and Unusual Punishments

Washington, D.C. – The Sentencing Project today released a new report, “Still Cruel and Unusual: Extreme Sentences for Youth and Emerging Adults.” The report finds that despite a wave of reforms across America that reduce the use of juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) sentences, thousands of youth and emerging adults have been left behind even though their sentences are essentially the same.

More specifically, the research found that in 2020, prisons in the U.S. held over 8,600 people sentenced for crimes committed when they were under 18 who were serving either life with the possibility of parole (LWP) or “virtual” life sentences of 50 years or longer before parole review.

In Wisconsin, 140 individuals who were under 18 at the time of their offenses are serving  LWP or virtual life sentences – representing 9.9% of the state’s total life-sentenced population.

“Wisconsin has imposed some of the harshest penalties for young people under the misconception that these long sentences serve a deterrent or rehabilitative function. This assumption fails to incorporate the important developments that alter the path for young people as they mature into adulthood, including cognitive, emotional, and social developments,” said Ashley Nellis, Co-Director of Research with The Sentencing Project and Co-author of the Report. “As states implement policies to eliminate life sentences for juveniles in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court mandate, they must provide a second look for all youth, not just some.”

The report also notes that an abundance of evidence shows that Black Americans receive harsher sentencing outcomes than whites across the sentencing spectrum – from the initial decision of whether to incarcerate to the length of sentence imposed. More than half of Wisconsin youth serving life sentences are Black.

The full report is available here.