SENTENCING CHILDREN TO LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE: NATIONAL NUMBERS

1,091

1,091 people sentenced to life without parole as children have been released since Montgomery v. Louisiana in 2016.

488

488 people are serving life without parole from crimes committed as children in the United States, which includes people awaiting resentencing, people resentenced to life without parole, and new cases since Miller v. Alabama in 2012. This number is down from 2,800 people.

100

To date, fewer than 100 people have been resentenced to life without parole nationwide following Miller and Montgomery.

100

Fewer than 100 people total have been sentenced in new JLWOP cases since 2012 when Miller was decided. At the peak of JLWOP imposition in 1995, 219 children were sentenced to life without parole in that year alone. And Louisiana and Georgia make up more than half of the newly imposed JLWOP sentences over the past decade.

73 percent

The percentage of Black children sentenced to life without parole has increased from 61 percent to 73 percent since Miller v. Alabama (2012), when judges were afforded more discretion in imposing the sentence.

 

Note on the data: Since 2016, the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth has collected individual-level data for every person in the United States convicted of life without parole for a crime committed under the age of 18. This data is collected and updated using information from state partner organizations, state departments of correction, and outreach from those serving these sentences and their families. 

 

Updated: 2/23/24