A new study by a team of researchers at the New York Times looks at the expand­ing use of life sen­tences in the American crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem. The study, head­ed by Times reporter Adam Liptak, found that about 132,000 of the nation’s pris­on­ers, or almost 10%, are serv­ing life sen­tences. Of those, 28% have life sen­tences with no chance of parole. This is a marked increase from a 1993 Times study that found 20% of all lif­ers had no chance of parole. Liptak also report­ed that about 9,700 peo­ple are serv­ing life sen­tences for crimes they com­mit­ted as juve­niles. Of these juve­nile offend­ers, more than 20% have no chance of parole. The total num­ber of pris­on­ers serv­ing life sen­tences has near­ly dou­bled in the last decade and is out­pac­ing the over­all growth in the nation’s prison pop­u­la­tion. Of those sen­tenced to life terms between 1988 and 2001, about one-third are serv­ing time for crimes oth­er than mur­der, includ­ing bur­glary and drug crimes.

(New York Times, October 2 – 3, 2005). See Life Without Parole and Sentencing.

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