September 19, 2018

Death by incarceration in Pennsylvania

Huffington Post - The state of Pennsylvania is using a particularly harsh form of punishment all too frequently: sentencing people to life in prison without the possibility of parole ? or, as critics call it, “death by incarceration,” according to a new report.

“A Way Out: Abolishing Death By Incarceration in Pennsylvania,” a detailed report published this week, finds that there are 5,346 people serving out life sentences without parole in Pennsylvania. Only Florida ? a state with roughly twice the population and twice the number of people in prison ? has more people currently serving such sentences.

The report by the Pittsburgh-based Abolitionist Law Center, which seeks to end class- and race-based mass incarceration in the U.S., also uncovered alarming racial disparities regarding these sentences. Black people in Pennsylvania are serving out life sentences without parole at 18 times the rate white people are. Latinx people are serving out these sentences at a rate five times that of whites. In Philadelphia,

No comments: