That's how many people are serving life sentences with no chance of parole for nonviolent offenses in the United States according to a new ACLU report A Living Death: Life without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses.
Many of the crimes that triggered these life terms (most through failed "tough-on-crime" mandatory sentencing laws) are shocking in how minor they are. Take Patrick Matthews. At 22, he was sentenced to life without parole for stealing tools from a tool shed because he had prior unarmed burglary convictions when he was 17. Or Stephanie Yvette George. She's in prison for life because her boyfriend hid drugs in her home without her knowledge.
The good news is that we're seeing increased attention to this issue.
The bad news is that we are still putting too many people behind bars in this country at astronomical human and financial costs. Our new Criminal Justice organizer, Grainne Dunne, wrote an excellent blog Tuesday on criminal justice in Germany and the Netherlands. Both countries have taken a sensible approach that offers a broad range of alternative sanctions such as diversion, community service or fines that are used in place of jail or prison.
It's time to abandon the mindset that our criminal justice system should only be about extreme, one-size-fits-all punishment. We need to create laws that are smarter, fairer, and more humane.
