Frigid temperatures this weekend prompt cold weather advisories

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Convicts sometimes avoid the death penalty by receiving a sentence of life without parole. But such a seemingly humane sentence carries its own ethical and social implications — perhaps especially when imposed on juveniles.

Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun and advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, 

was in town last month to give the keynote address at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis

She argues that a sentence of life without parole is akin to a sentence of death. 

"As a society we have to examine our belief that severe punishment is the way to restore order," 

. "The main objective of prisons is to keep society safe, not to cause prisoners pain simply because they caused others pain. People who have committed violent crimes need to be imprisoned to keep the public safe, but we must also strive for rehabilitation. We know that prisoners who get an education tend not to reoffend, but we've cut most educational programs from prisons — really, any program that might restore humanity to the prisoners. Restorative justice would improve our society instead of simply throwing people away."

Josh Bowers, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, says it is 

 tough for juries even to think beyond the harshest punishments

On The Daily Circuit, we examine the issue of life without parole, especially in the case of murderers. Has public opinion toward this issue and the death penalty changed?

Should Teen Murderers Receive Life Without Parole?


Minors are capable of horrific acts, but in a pair of upcoming cases, the Supreme Court will decide if they are beyond help. (The Atlantic)

Life Without Parole: Four Inmates' Stories


Of the 140,000 prisoners serving life sentences in the United States, about 41,000 have no chance at parole, a result of laws that eliminated parole in the federal system and for many state prisoners. (New York Times)

Over 3,000 US prisoners serving life without parole for non-violent crimes


Timothy Jackson, 53, is one of 3,281 prisoners in America serving life sentences with no chance of parole for non-violent crimes. Some, like him, were given the most extreme punishment short of execution for shoplifting; one was condemned to die in prison for siphoning petrol from a truck; another for stealing tools from a tool shed; yet another for attempting to cash a stolen cheque. (The Guardian)

Sentenced to life without parole

Go Deeper.

Like this?