RT Article
T1 Is life without parole an effective way to reduce violent crime? An empirical assessment
JF Criminology & public policy
VO 19
IS 2
SP 617
OP 651
A1 Kleinstuber, Ross
A2 Coldsmith, Jeremiah
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1724825488
AB Research By taking advantage of data published by the Sentencing Project to analyze whether states that use life without parole (LWOP) more often experience lower violent crime rates or greater reductions in violent crime, this study is the first to empirically assess the crime-reducing potential of LWOP sentences. The results suggest that LWOP might produce a small absolute reduction in violent crime but that it is no more effective than life with parole. Policy Implications Despite reductions in the use of the death penalty, LWOP has expanded dramatically—and at a much faster rate—over the last quarter century. This expansion has come at great financial and human costs and has not been distributed equally throughout the population. As such, the public policy debate over the use of LWOP is likely to intensify. Yet, to date, there have been no empirical assessments of LWOP's efficacy to inform this debate. This study begins to fill this gap in our knowledge, and the results, if replicated, suggest that the use of LWOP should be either scaled back or eliminated.
K1 Deterrence
K1 Incapacitation
K1 Life Without Parole
K1 Sentencing Policy
K1 Violent Crime
DO 10.1111/1745-9133.12496