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Press Call 1 in 7 people now serving life or virtual life sentence
A report by The Sentencing Project, Still Life: America's Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences, finds a record number of people serving life with parole, life without parole, and virtual life sentences of 50 years or more.
Related to: Sentencing Reform, Incarceration
Despite recent political support for criminal justice reform in most states, the number of people serving life sentences has nearly quintupled since 1984.
A new report by The Sentencing Project, Still Life: America’s Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences, finds a record number of people serving life with parole, life without parole, and virtual life sentences of 50 years or more, equaling one of every seven people behind bars.
This press call discussed the report’s findings with its author, Ashley Nellis. The call also featured Evans Ray, whose life without parole sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama, and Steve Zeidman, City University of New York law professor and counsel for Judith Clark—a New York prisoner who received a 75 year to life sentence in 1983.
