New Report: Life Without Parole and Felony Murder Sentencing in California
Over 5000 people in California are currently serving life without the possibility of parole.
The findings of a recent report, published by UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Barbra Streisand Center in collaboration with Felony Murder Elimination Project, indicates a need for reevaluation of the commonly held beliefs regarding the over 5000 people sentenced to Life Without Parole (LWOP) in California.
Despite the magnitude of this sentence and its implications for California’s communities, no comprehensive compilation or analysis existed of the specific convictions leading to the imprisonment of those serving LWOP or how factors such as race, age, and gender affect sentencing outcomes – until now.
The study, “Convictions for Life Without Parole and Felony Murder Sentencing in California” (PDF) examines the cases in which individuals were sentenced and discovers that more than half of those sentenced to LWOP were convicted with no required finding by a DA that they intentionally perpetuated a death.
The report also details how factors such as race, age and gender play a disturbing role in sentencing outcomes.
Read the SCCP report (PDF).
The ultimate objective of the report is to understand how thousands of people in California have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the hope that this analysis allows increased insight into the group of people serving this sentence.
This report was created by the Special Circumstances Conviction Project in collaboration with the Felony Murder Elimination Project And the UCLA Center for the Study of Women|Streisand Center.
