Why Does the US Sentence People to Hundreds of Years in Prison?

Darryl K. Brown;

Scholarship

Why Does the US Sentence People to Hundreds of Years in Prison?

Darryl K. Brown

PUBLISHER

Conversation

DATE

2019-07-22

Website

UVA Law Faculty Affiliations

Darryl K. Brown

Abstract

Some may wonder about the point of a centuries-long sentence – far longer than a human could serve.

As a criminal justice scholar and formerly an attorney in state criminal courts, I see their purpose as entirely symbolic.

A 400-year sentence doesn’t prevent the possibility of the defendant being released on parole. However, Virginia abolished parole in 1995. About 20 states have abolished parole for some or all offenses.

Website

Citation

Darryl K. Brown, Why Does the US Sentence People to Hundreds of Years in Prison?, Conversation (July 22, 2019).

More in This Category

Addressing the School-to-Prison Pipeline Through Three Nontraditional Pathways
Gerard Robinson
He who opens a school door, closes a prison. – Victor Hugo Analogous to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s critique of his leaders’ decision to use punishment as... MORE
Error Aversions and Due Process
Gregory Mitchell
William Blackstone famously expressed the view that convicting the innocent constitutes a much more serious error than acquitting the guilty. This... MORE
Does Cash Bail Deter Misconduct?
Megan T. Stevenson
Courts routinely use low cash bail as a financial incentive to ensure that released defendants appear in court and abstain from crime. This can... MORE

Competence for Criminal Adjudication: Client Autonomy and the Significance of Decisional Competence
Richard J. Bonnie
The practice of assessing and adjudicating competence for criminal adjudication in the United States developed largely without assistance from the U.... MORE
Bad Faith Prosecution
Ann Woolhandler

Michael G. Collins
In our increasingly polarized society, claims that prosecutions are politically motivated, racially motivated, or just plain arbitrary are more... MORE
Severe Mental Illness and the Death Penalty: A Menu of Legislative Options
Richard J. Bonnie
In 2003, the American Bar Association established a Task Force on Mental Disability and the Death Penalty to further specify and implement the... MORE

The Legal Effect of a Record of Delinquency Adjudication on Firearm Access: A Typology of State Statutes and Policies
Richard J. Bonnie
Gun-related violence and suicide in the United States are serious public health problems that are concentrated among young adults, especially those... MORE
Procuring Algorithmic Transparency
Elizabeth A. Rowe
Artificial intelligence tools (“AI”) have great potential to improve government functions and efficiency. These algorithmic tools, protected by trade... MORE
Community-based Re-entry: Breaking the Cycle of Reincarceration
Kelly Orians
In 1988, Troy Rhodes was released from prison for the first time. He had served three years at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. He vividly... MORE

The predictive performance of criminal risk assessment tools used at sentencing: Systematic review of validation studies
John T. Monahan
Although risk assessment tools have been widely used to inform sentencing decisions, there is uncertainty about the extent and quality of evidence of... MORE
The Dangerous Few: Taking Seriously Prison Abolition and Its Skeptics
Thomas Frampton
Prison abolition, in the span of just a few short years, has established a foothold in elite criminal legal discourse. But the basic question of how... MORE
The Empirical Case for Pretrial Risk Assessment Instruments
John T. Monahan
Pretrial risk assessment instruments are used in many jurisdictions to inform decisions regarding pretrial release and conditions. Many are concerned... MORE

Pretrial Detention and the Value of Liberty
Megan T. Stevenson
How dangerous must a person be to justify the state in locking her up for the greater good? The bail reform movement, which aspires to limit pretrial... MORE
The Biden Administration Cracks Down on Ransomware
Kristen Eichensehr
Following several significant ransomware attacks against U.S. companies last summer, the Biden administration has acted internationally and... MORE
Overview of special issue: Human factors in forensic science practice sourcebook
Barbara A. Spellman
The five articles in this special issue of FSI:Synergy were created to advance the understanding and adoption of insights from cognitive psychology... MORE

McCleskey Accused: Justice Powell and the Moral Price of Institutional Pride
Josh Bowers
Writing for the Supreme Court in McCleskey v. Kemp, Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. authored a maximalist decision that transcended capital practice and... MORE
The Future of Police Reform
Rachel Harmon
The future of police reform might be best predicted by looking to the recent past, where we find countless proposals for change. But merely looking... MORE
Algorithmic Fairness, Algorithmic Discrimination
Thomas B. Nachbar
There has been an explosion of concern about use of computers to make decisions – from hiring to lending approvals to setting prison terms –... MORE

Scholarship

Why Does the US Sentence People to Hundreds of Years in Prison?

UVA Law Faculty Affiliations

Abstract

Citation

More in This Category

ABOUT

APPLY

ACADEMICS

SERVICES

PEOPLE

CAREERS

NEWS & EVENTS

COMMUNITY