# State Year Notes Source
1 Alabama 1981 Code of Alabama
2 Alaska* No LWOP Prison Legal News
3 Arizona 1993 Arizona Legislature
4 Arkansas 1976 Arkansas Code of 1987
5 California 1976 1976 — Year added to statute; 1978 — Year LWOP Sentencing went into effect California State Library and Real Cost of Prison
6 Colorado 2002 Colorado Revised Statutes
7 Connecticut 1985 Connecticut Penal Code
8 Delaware 2003 Delaware Title 11
9 District of Columbia* 1981 District of Columbia Code
10 Florida 1994 General Acts, Resolutions and Memorials Adopted by the Thirteenth Legislature of Florida, pp. 1576 – 77
11 Georgia 1993 Harvard Law Review
12 Hawaii* 1976 Hawaii Supreme Court
13 Idaho 2004 University of San Francisco
14 Illinois 1978 The Sentencing Project
15 Indiana 1994 National Institute of Justice
16 Iowa* 1997 Iowans Against the Death Penalty
17 Kansas 2004 Harvard Law Review
18 Kentucky 1998 Kentucky Legislative Research Commission
19 Louisiana 1994 National Institute of Justice
20 Maine* 1841 LWOP not explic­it­ly in statute, but exists in practice Maine Legislative Reference Library
21 Maryland* 1987 The British Journal of Criminology
22 Massachusetts* 1955 Massachusetts Legislative Directory
23 Michigan* 1953 Michigan Corrections Code of 1953
24 Minnesota* 1992 Minnesota Revisor of Statutes
25 Mississippi 1880 Mississippi Code of 1880 – Section 2877
26 Missouri 1984 Missouri Revised Statutes
27 Montana 1995 National Institute of Justice
28 Nebraska 2002 Added to statute in 2002 by state leg­is­la­ture, and ruled uncon­sti­tu­tion­al by state Supreme Court in 2010. LWOP still exists in real­i­ty though not titled as LWOP any longer Nebraska Revised Statutes
29 Nevada 1967 Nevada Legislative Council
30 New Hampshire 1974 New Hampshire Legislature
31 New Jersey* 1995 National Institute of Justice
32 New Mexico* 1997 1997- LWOP added to statute for 2‑time sex offend­ers; 2009- Death penal­ty abol­ished and replaced with LWOP CNN
33 New York* 1995 Bronx District Attorney
34 North Carolina 1994 National Institute of Justice
35 North Dakota* 1997 North Dakota Legislature
36 Ohio 1995 Ohio Catholic Conference
37 Oklahoma 1988 Harvard Law Review
38 Oregon 1984 Oregon Department of Corrections
39 Pennsylvania 1941 The Sentencing Project
40 Rhode Island* 1979 America Without the Death Penalty, pg. 223
41 South Carolina 1995 National Institute of Justice
42 South Dakota 1978 South Dakota Legislature
43 Tennessee 1995 National Institute of Justice
44 Texas 2005 Texas Legislature
45 Utah 1992 Harvard Law Review
46 Vermont* 1987 Vermont Legislative Council
47 Virginia 1994 1994- LWOP added for 3 strikes leg­is­la­tion; 1995- added as an alter­na­tive to the death penalty Truth in Justice and National Institute of Justice
48 Washington* 1993 National Institute of Justice
49 West Virginia* 1965 America Without the Death Penalty, pg. 193
50 Wisconsin* 1994 National Institute of Justice
51 Wyoming 1982 Wyoming Statutes

*Indicates states with no death penalty.

The fed­er­al death penal­ty statute was rein­stat­ed in 1988 and con­tained a LWOP sen­tenc­ing alter­na­tive. The list of death-eli­gi­ble crimes was expand­ed in 1994, also with LWOP alternatives.

The U.S. Military added a LWOP alter­na­tive to its death penal­ty statute for crimes com­mit­ted on or after Nov. 17, 1997.

Note: Dates may vary accord­ing to dif­fer­ent legal resources. This vari­ance occurs because of dif­fer­ent inter­pre­ta­tions of life with­out parole laws. Some states have had laws that have effec­tive­ly served as LWOP statutes with­out being titled so, while oth­er states have had more explic­it start dates for the sentencing option.

Research and com­pi­la­tion by Thomas Davidson, DPIC, pub. Aug. 2, 2010.