ABSTRACT
In the United States, persons convicted of offenses ranging from theft, to drug possession, to first degree murder have been handed sentences that might not end in their lifetime. These sentences offer no opportunity for reform, no room for forgiveness, and no chance of redemption. In this chapter we examine the historical increase in sentence length, its contribution to mass incarceration, and the ways in which meaningful sentencing reform could rapidly reduce prison populations. Given that current reform efforts would take almost a century to end mass incarceration, we propose the following to increase the pace of decarceration: 1) nobody should be sent to prison for nonviolent offenses; 2) sentences of incarceration for even violent offenses should be substantially reduced; and 3) sentences to life without parole, natural life sentences, and life trashing sentences, should be eliminated. With concerted focus on reform, we can return to a time when a sentence of five years of incarceration would have been unusual and a sentence of ten years would have been considered life trashing.
