Life without parole: worse than death? R. Kleinstuber, J. Coldsmith, M. Leigey & S. Joy Abingdon: Routledge. 2022. 256pp. £120.00 (hbk); £34.99 (pbk) ISBN: 9780367752712; 9780367752699
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Author | Hannah Gilman |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12501 |
558 BOOK REVIEWS
DOI: 10.1111/ho jo.12501
Life without parole: worse than death?
R. Kleinstuber J. Coldsmith M. Leigey S. Joy
Abingdon: Routledge. 2022. 256pp. £120.00 (hbk); £34.99 (pbk) ISBN: 9780367752712; 9780367752699
Internationally, whole life sentences are becoming an increasingly common sanction. They are
supported by abolitionists of state executions and ‘tough on crime’ conservatives alike and, as a
result, have flourished in recent years. The US has the highest number of persons serving whole
life sentences anywhere in the world with an unprecedented 55,945 persons serving life without
parole sentences in 2020 (p.94). Kleinstuber et al.’sLife without parole: worse than death? considers
the purpose, development and impact of life without parole sentences in the US by focusing upon
the increased use of life without parole sentences across the previous three decades. The authors
examine the US’s increasing dependency upon these sentences by considering arguments in sup-
port of their continued use and, in so doing, shine a light on the inhumane ‘pains’ suffered by
those serving such sentences.
The book starts by considering the legitimacy of life without parole sentences, questioning
whether life without parole sentences are humane and subsequently ‘just’ by considering the
experiences of death row prisoners who – by most people’s standards – are serving a significantly
‘worse’ sentence. The authors focus on ‘death penalty volunteers’ (p.21) (death row prisoners who
purposely refuse to pursue any form of appeal so as to accelerate the execution process) in order
to demonstrate the inhumane nature of life without parole sentences. The authors subsequently
argue that the increasing number of ‘death penalty volunteers’ calls into question the notion that
‘life’ (without parole) is ‘better’ than death.
The second chapter continues to question the legitimacy of life without parole sentences by
considering the experiences of life without parole prisoners. This chapter consolidates and builds
upon existing literature on the pains of imprisonment (such as Sykes, 1958) and life without
parole (e.g., Hartman, 2016; Johnson & McGunigall-Smith, 2008; Leigey,2015; Zehr, 1996) further
emphasising the cruel and ‘inhuman’ (p.61) nature of life without parole sentences.
In the third chapter, the authors drawupon Van Zyl Smit and Appleton’s (2019)Life imprison-
ment: a global human rights analysis to expose the ‘degrading’ (p.61) nature of life and whole life
sentences and argue – in the words of Judge Power-Forde(see Vinter and Others v. The UK [2013]
ECHR 645) – that prisoners ‘ought not to be deprived entirely of .. . hope’ (p.54).
These early chapters collectively present a persuasive argument against the increasing use of
life without parole sentences. Nevertheless, many of these arguments have been made by various
scholars within recent decades but – due to their predominantly theoretical nature – have failed
to have any significant consequence; life without parole has continued to increase in popularity
among legislators, judiciaries and society, resulting in a record number of life without parole
prisoners in the US.
The fourth chapter subsequently recognises and discusses the limited judicial scrutiny that life
without parole (in contrast to the death penalty) has received, despite it being considered the
‘worse’ of the two sentences by death row prisoners and life without parole prisoners alike,thereby
contributing to abolitionist perspectives on the issue.
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