The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences

Most Western democracies have few or no people serving life sentences, and research suggests that maximum sentences of twenty years for all but the most heinous crimes are just as effective. Yet here in the United States, over 200,000 people are serving life in prison. How has the United States become the world leader in imposing life behind bars?

Marc Mauer and Ashley Nellis of the Sentencing Project argue that there is no practical or moral justification for a sentence longer than twenty years. In fact, harsher sentences have been shown to have little effect on crime rates, and a broad body of research demonstrates that people “age out” of crime, meaning that we’re devoting significant resources to incarcerating individuals who pose little threat to public safety. Such extreme punishment for serious crime also has an inflationary effect on sentences across the spectrum, helping to account for severe mandatory minimums and the criminalization of minor offenses.

A thoughtful and stirring call to action, The Meaning of Life also features moving profiles of a half-dozen people currently serving life sentences, written by a former “lifer” and award-winning writer Kerry Myers, who was falsely convicted of murder and released after serving twenty-seven years of his life-without-parole sentence. The book will tie in to a campaign spearheaded by the Sentencing Project, and offers a much needed road map to a more humane criminal justice system.