The resource highlights the fact that a majority of states now ban life without parole for children, or have no one serving the sentence, and includes updated data on national trends. From the brief:
“The United States has reached a critical tipping point in the movement to end life-without-parole sentences for children. Today, at least twenty-six states and the District of Columbia ban the practice or have no one serving the sentence, even if technically available. The number of states that ban life without parole for children has more than quadrupled since 2012.
At that time, only five states did not allow children to be sentenced to life without parole. Today, twenty-one states plus the District of Columbia prohibit life without parole as a sentencing option for children. At least five additional states have no serving the sentence for a crime committed as a child.”
The resource also notes that despite this national momentum, racial disparities continue to worsen; of new cases tried since 2012, approximately 72 percent of children sentenced to life without parole have been Black—as compared to approximately 61 percent before 2012.
