ABSTRACT
The 17 lifers in my sample, as well as most of the more than 10,000 other lifers who are eligible for parole and who have served many years beyond their prescribed sentences, have been held far beyond that required by the goals of imprisonment-retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. This is occurring at a great financial cost to the society and an emotional cost in terms of the tremendous pain experienced by the lifers and harm to their families. In this chapter, we will examine how and why this expensive injustice is being executed by the government functionaries who determine lifers’ sentences.
