Second Chances Resource Library

Though the U.S. prison population has declined slightly over the last decade, progress toward decarceration has been exceedingly modest. Creating or expanding mechanisms for early release from prison could help accelerate the pace of decarceration. Compassionate release—early release from prison based on a serious or terminal medical condition—is the only early release mechanism available in nearly every state. This Article uses compassionate release as a case study in the possibilities and limits of early release measures as tools for decarceration in the states.

So far, decarceral reforms have largely failed to reach people convicted of violent crimes, who account for over half of the state prison population. The challenge presented by the prevalence of violent convictions is particularly acute for compassionate release. People age 55 and older, who make up a significant and growing share of people in state prisons, are the age group most likely to qualify for compassionate release. They are also the age group most likely to be incarcerated for violent convictions. This Article identifies the significant barriers that people incarcerated for violent convictions face when seeking compassionate release—even when they are not outright barred by their convictions.

This Article argues that to be effective tools for decarceration, compassionate release and other early release measures must reduce the obstacles to release for people incarcerated for violent convictions. This Article models this approach with concrete suggestions for how states can reform their compassionate release measures to reach the hardest cases.

The “graying” of the United States prison system is a well-documented phenomenon that describes the aging of the population currently held in U.S. state and federal prisons.  Between 2009 and 2019, as the total population of individuals detained in state and federal prison systems decreased by 11.4%, the number of people over age 55 incarcerated in state and federal correctional institutions more than doubled from 75,300 to 180,836.  This is often attributed to the large number of detained individuals who are aging in place due to long sentences
and restrictive parole practices. Less well-known or well-characterized is the fact that the U.S.’s justice-involved population outside of prisons is also “graying”—that the demographics of people who are being arrested, jail detained, transferred to prisons on new criminal convictions, and monitored under community surveillance programs are also changing to include a higher proportion of seniors.

Amid growing public support for criminal justice reform, policymakers and criminal justice practitioners have begun to scale back prison sentences for low-level, nonviolent crimes. Although the results have been modest—a 5% reduction in the overall U.S. prison population between 2009 and 2015—this shift follows almost four decades of prison expansion. But so far, criminal justice reform has largely excluded people in prison with life sentences. This growing “lifer” population both illustrates and contributes to the persistence of mass incarceration.

The “Annual Report of Trends in Clemency 2022” evaluates the progress made in 2022 by executives and advocates to advance the use of clemency as a tool for good governance, justice, and redemption while also identifying ways in which governors and the president can do more to capitalize on the full powers of clemency. The report also highlights how impactful state and federal clemency actions can correct injustice, offer second chances, and reverse the country’s overreliance on mass incarceration.

The article discusses how federal compassionate release, once reserved for individuals who were terminally ill, medically incapacitated, or advanced in years is now being used , among other things, to release people serving sentences that can no longer be imposed due to changes in the law. Now, the U.S. Sentencing Commission is poised to amend the rules governing compassionate release and has proposed including changes in the law as one of the criteria. This article relates the history of how we got to this point, describes the Commission’s proposal, and poses questions about how the Commission’s decisions will shake out.

Adolescence is the developmental epoch during which children become adults – intellectually, physically, hormonally, and socially. Adolescence is a tumultuous time, full of changes and transformations. The pubertal transition to adulthood involves both gonadal and behavioral maturation. Magnetic resonance imaging studies have discovered that myelinogenesis, required for proper insulation and efficient neurocybernetics, continues from childhood and the brain’s region-specific neurocircuitry remains structurally and functionally vulnerable to impulsive sex, food, and sleep habits. The maturation of the adolescent brain is also influenced by heredity, environment, and sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone), which play a crucial role in myelination. Furthermore, glutamatergic neurotransmission predominates, whereas gamma-aminobutyric acid neurotransmission remains under construction, and this might be responsible for immature and impulsive behavior and neurobehavioral excitement during adolescent life. The adolescent population is highly vulnerable to driving under the influence of alcohol and social maladjustments due to an immature limbic system and prefrontal cortex. Synaptic plasticity and the release of neurotransmitters may also be influenced by environmental neurotoxins and drugs of abuse including cigarettes, caffeine, and alcohol during adolescence. Adolescents may become involved with offensive crimes, irresponsible behavior, unprotected sex, juvenile courts, or even prison. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the major cause of death among the teenage population is due to injury and violence related to sex and substance abuse. Prenatal neglect, cigarette smoking, and alcohol consumption may also significantly impact maturation of the adolescent brain. Pharmacological interventions to regulate adolescent behavior have been attempted with limited success. Since several factors, including age, sex, disease, nutritional status, and substance abuse have a significant impact on the maturation of the adolescent brain, we have highlighted the influence of these clinically significant and socially important aspects in this report.

This Guide is intended to support attorneys and judges in familiarizing themselves with the contours of the relevant science and how it can be applied to individual cases. A working knowledge of developmental and brain science allows attorneys and judges to make best use of what a juvenile defendant’s life course, circumstances of an alleged offense, and expert evaluations and opinions can tell them to assist in understanding a defendant. For attorneys, this facilitates preparing a case, educating the legal finder of fact, and making optimal use of expert testimony. For judges, this facilitates science-informed decision-making at all trial and appellate phases of a case involving a juvenile or young adult. The goal is to position each individual young defendant within a developmental trajectory comprised of biological, psychological, and social domains. A significant majority of cases will ultimately reflect “transitory immaturity,” a feature of adolescence which will resolve as adolescents mature, resulting in desistance from criminal misconduct. Science-informed decision-making and evidence-based interventions can guide rehabilitation and reduce recidivism (thereby improving community safety) while avoiding or minimizing the negative impact of common responses (such as overuse of detention and incarceration) that can inadvertently compromise positive youth development and increase recidivism. A better understanding of late adolescent brain and behavioral development can transform how the legal system and policy makers respond to late adolescents who offend. By educating decision-makers and advocates, this White Paper informs the criminal justice system and policy makers through providing an updated research perspective on late adolescence and supporting public safety by reducing recidivism through developmentally aligned accountability and empirically based processes and interventions.

Fact sheet on U.S. prison stats, NY state prison states, and geriatric inmates.

This paper considers the pains of life-sentence imprisonment through the novel vantage point of old age understood as a process. Our prison populations are getting older and the use of life sentences is dramatically increasing. Yet, research, campaigning, law and policy have not addressed the long-term consequences of imposing life sentences on prisoners who will age. Whilst far from exhaustive, our study draws on studies in gerontology, health policy and penology. We rely on shared analysis of collected official data from the US and the UK to highlight how the expansion and growth of life sentences on the one hand, and the dramatic aging of the prison population, on the other, are intertwined and need to be considered together. This article emphasizes the urgency of taking a holistic approach to penal severity, one that includes analyses of scale, lived experiences, as well as of law and politics, to uncover the multiple forms of marginalization elderly prisoners are exposed to. Aging is a phenomenon we will all experience, yet, in the context of imprisonment, we argue that old age is a ‘prison problem’ rather than a ‘prisoner problem,’, urging research and policy to depart from the conventional and reductive view of the older prisoner as one in need of transformation and treatment or as being inherently criminal.