u.s. accounts for 99 percent of "life without parole" sentences for juveniles
i've written before about life sentences for juvenile offenders. according to a new study by michelle leighton and connie de la vega of the university of san francisco, the u.s. and israel are the only nations in the world that mete out life sentences without the possibility of parole or release to children. an estimated total of 2,381 juvenile lifers reside in the united states, relative to 7 in israel. the report offers a useful, if sobering, state-by-state appendix for those teaching juvenile justice or juvenile delinquency classes.
posted by christopher uggen @ 12:22 AM
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3 Comments:
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To be fair, if only two countries permit for such sentences, what surprise is there that one of them is responsible for a majority of them?
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli population hit 7.15 million sometime in late April. The US population is currently around 301 million. So, considering the two populations together, Israel only accounts for 2.3% of the population.
The 7 juveniles serving life sentences accounts, on the other hand, for 0.3% of all juveniles serving life sentences. It's certainly lopsided such that the US is incarcerating more juveniles for life, but again, with only two participating nations, the basis of comparison isn't all that great.
The number of juveniles serving life sentences may be sobering, and the idea of juveniles serving life sentences bothersome; but what's all that surprising about the US being #1 in a pool of 2?
all true, mike. i only meant to point out the rarity of the u.s. practice of relegating children to a lifetime behind bars.
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