The Center For Life
Without Parole Studies

LWOP Studies and Literature

June 24th, 2020

Opinion | Life without parole isn't called the death penalty. But it should be.

Before we cheer the huge drop in capital punishment cases, we need to revisit and replace the extended death penalty — life without parole.

State Advocacy News: Strategizing to End Life Imprisonment | The Sentencing Project

As the movement to challenge mass incarceration evolves there is growing attention being given to the dramatic impact of life sentences on the prison population. In 2019 national and state groups worked to build the base of support for ending life imprisonment. State advocates and organizers facilitated connections through strategy sessions to support reform.

www.sentencingproject.org

Changing Perception, Changing the Law

Please share widely with your resources and post this new article that shows what we can learn from the battle to end death by incarceration across the country.

Click Here:

Governor Brown signs into law SB 394, giving a chance for parole to youth under 18 sentenced to LWOP! Governor Brown signed SB 394 (Lara), giving people who committed a crime under age 18 and were sentenced to life without parole the chance to earn parole, with a first opportunity for a hearing after 24 years of incarceration

Criminal Injustice. Alec Karakatsanis puts “human caging” and “wealth-based detention” in America on trial.

The Truth About Life Without Parole: Condemned to Die in Prison. Published in 2011 on the ACLU of Northern California's website, advocates for LWOP as a "reasonable alternative" to lethal injection.

Campaign to End the Death Penalty. One of the few death penalty abolitionist organizations that does not support LWOP as an alternative to traditional forms of execution, such as lethal injection.

Commons Hope and Redemption for LWOP prisoners in California.

A candid interview with prisoners sentenced to LWOP and how they are trying to make a better life for themselves and others.

Important Links

Death Penalty Information Center. An excellent overview of LWOP.

Life Without Parole: A Different:Death Penalty. Written by capital defense attorney David Dow in the October 2012 issue of The Nation.

Life Without Parole is Forever. Authored by Robert Wilburn in the September 2012 issue of Truthout.

The Sentencing Project has published several highly visible and important reports about LWOP and the need for its abolition:

1. Life Goes On

2. Tinkering With Life

3. STILL LIFE: America’s Increasing Use of Life and Long-Term Sentences.

The Center for Life Without Parole Studies is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Help support our work through AmazonSmile!

The Center for Life Without Parole Studies

Advocating for a balanced approach to abolishing this cruel and inhumane sentence nationwide.

2851 West Avenue L # 302

Lancaster, CA 93536

Phone: (661) 466-7007

Fax: (661) 793-6601

info@lwopstudies.org

Our Goals:

1) To eliminate the use of LWOP (and “de facto” LWOP—sentences that exceed the human lifespan) in the United States and ensure that all prisoners currently serving LWOP have a meaningful opportunity to demonstrate their fitness for release;

2) To include the voices of those harmed by crime in the conversation about LWOP abolition;

3) To help California LWOP prisoners with low-cost and pro-bono legal services focusing on commutation applications; and

4) To raise awareness of the role of childhood trauma in the creation of LWOP sentences of all types.

The Vermont Initiative

The Center for Life Without Parole Studies is collaborating with Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform (VCJR) to end life without parole sentences in Vermont. Since 2019, Center Founder and CEO Susan Lawrence has been working closely with VCJR Executive Director Tom Dalton and VCJR Intern/UVM Student/Human Rights Activist Skyler Nash on current and projected new legislation to end LWOP in the state.

This leadership team has been instrumental in the introduction of H.382 by Representative Brian Cina and co-sponsored by Representative Barbara Rachelson, and S.261 by Senator Dick Sears and co-sponsored by Senators Philip Baruth and Jeannette White. Please see The Vermont Initiative page for updates on these bills.

Vermont is uniquely positioned to become the first state to affirmatively end LWOP sentences for adults as well as juveniles, taking a strong stand against this human rights violation. Existing progressive criminal justice policies (such as voting rights for incarcerated persons, compassionate release provisions for terminally ill prisoners, and lack of felony murder statutes), as well as its small number of LWOP prisoners (fifteen), make Vermont the ideal state in which to begin this much needed reform.

Restorative justice is the law of the land in Vermont. LWOP is the antithesis of restoration.

Join with us to ensure all people inside prison have hope for the opportunity to one day present their case to the parole board and demonstrate their fitness for release.

OCTOBER 17, 2020 UPDATE: S.261 passed the Senate floor in March 2020, but because of COVID-19 it was not taken up by the House. We stand ready to work with lawmakers to re-introduce the bill in January 2021, when the new legislative session starts. Stay tuned!

From left to right: Tom Dalton, Susan Lawrence and Skyler Nash.