Time for Pa. to Re-examine Life Without Parole

The national mood on criminal justice issues has dramatically changed in the past few years. Fear of crime and personal safety are no longer leading political concerns as the economy and terrorism have taken their place. This past July, President Obama became the first U.S. president to visit a federal prison when he went to the El Reno Federal Prison in Oklahoma. In September, Pope Francis visited the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia during his first visit to the United States. He addressed the inmates and staff and called for more empathy and compassion in our sentencing practices. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder instituted several significant reforms at the U.S. Department of Justice aimed increasing police accountability, reducing the harsh consequences of the drug war and minimizing racial disparities in sentencing. Obama recently pardoned 6,000 inmates in the federal system. The United States has seen its overall prison population go down for three straight years after decades of unprecedented growth. New Jersey has reduced its state prison population by 31 percent. New York state’s prison population has gone down over 20 percent as it has closed prisons and New York City reduced its jail population from 24,000 to under 10,000. More conservative states like Georgia and Texas have instituted major criminal justice reforms, cut prison population and saved millions of dollars with no risk to public safety while crime rates have gone down there as well. Against this backdrop, it is time for Pennsylvania to get on board.

In Pennsylvania, a life sentence without the possibility of parole is the penalty for first- and second-degree murder, which includes felony murder. Only 13 states have life without parole sentences for first-degree murder and only nine states allow it for felony murder. While Pennsylvania also has a death-penalty option for first-degree murder, it has never been used since it was reintroduced in 1974 but for three volunteers. Not only are the perpetrators of a homicide subject to this extreme penalty but less culpable persons such as the getaway driver or a lookout in a robbery gone awry are also subject to the same sentence under the felony murder rule. In Pennsylvania, a felony murder conviction occurs when a murder was committed during the commission of a felony. All participants in the crime are subject to the same sentence regardless of their individual culpability.