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New Data: Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Lead the Nation and World in Life Without Parole Sentences

The Abolitionist Law Center is proud to share our groundbreaking report entitled A WAY OUT: ABOLISHING DEATH BY INCARCERATION IN PENNSYLVANIA which analyzes death by incarceration in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Our report is a data analysis of the mandatory life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) and highlights the institutional barriers preventing restorative justice. 

 

Our report refers to life without parole as “Death by Incarceration” (DBI). Key findings include:

• Most of the people serving DBI were convicted and sentenced when they were 25 or younger, a period of life when brain development and maturation remains ongoing, according to recent neuroscientific research.

• More than 70 percent of those serving DBI are over 40 and nearly half (2,377 people) are over 50. The practice continues even though research shows that criminal activity drops significantly after age 40 and despite the fact that locking up a person over 55 is two to three times more expensive.

•  Black Pennsylvanians are serving DBI at a rate more than 18 times higher than that of their white counterparts. Out of Philadelphia’s 2,694 people serving DBI, 84 percent are Black. In Allegheny County, 13 percent of the county’s residents are Black, but constitute 76 percent of those serving DBI sentences (409 out of 541 people).

 

 

 

The Abolitionist Law Center is a public interest law firm inspired by the struggle of political and politicized prisoners, and organized for the purpose of abolishing class and race based mass incarceration in the United States. You may support our work by making a donation at https://abolitionistlawcenter.org

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Copyright © 2018 Abolitionist Law Center, All rights reserved.


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