In The Extreme
Women Serving Life Without
Parole and Death Sentences
in the United States

~
~

~~:TENCING
PROJECT

RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY FOR REFORM

Nat·onal
Black Women's
Justice Institute

Camell aw School
Cornell CPnter or1 the
0Palh Penalty Worldwide

~

~~:TENCING
~PROJECT
RESEARCHAND ADVOCACYFOR REFORM

For more information, contact:
The Sentencing Project
1705 DeSales Street NW
8th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 628-0871
sentencingproject.org
twitter.com/sentencingproj
facebook.com/thesentencingproject

National
Black Women's
Justice Institute

Camell aw School
Cornell Center on the
Death Penalty Worldwide

In the Extreme: Women Serving Life without Parole and Death Sentences
in the United States is authored by Ashley Nellis, Ph.D., Senior Research
Analyst at The Sentencing Project. Research assistance was provided
by Skye Liston and Savannah En, Research Fellows at The Sentencing
Project. The report is a joint publication of The Sentencing Project,
National Black Women’s Justice Institute and the Cornell University
Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide who together in 2020 formed
the Alice Project. The collaboration seeks to highlight the experiences
of incarcerated women and girls, to eliminate extreme sentences, and
to reduce the influence of racial and gender bias in the criminal legal
system.
We are deeply grateful for the contributions of Sara Bennett, whose
professional photography focuses on dozens of women serving life
sentences in New York. Her online exhibit, including the cover image, is
available to the public.
The Sentencing Project promotes effective and humane responses to
crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and
adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.

Copyright © 2021 by The Sentencing Project. Reproduction of this
document in full or in part, and in print or electronic format, only by
permission of The Sentencing Project.

2 The Sentencing Project

TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Prevalence of Extreme Sentences Served by Women

5

II. Characteristics of Women Serving Extreme Sentences

7

Race and ethnicity
Age at offense
Aging in prison

7
7
8

III. Crime of Conviction

9

IV. Sentencing Trends

11

V. Trauma Plays a Pivotal Role

12

VI. Conclusion

14

In The Extreme 3

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— KAT
Sentenced to life without parole and incarcerated at the age of 34 in 2009. Her image is featured
on the cover of this report outside her housing unit at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in 2019.
Photo courtesty of Sara Bennett.

4 The Sentencing Project

PREVALENCE OF EXTREME
SENTENCES SERVED BY WOMEN
Extreme punishments, including the death penalty Table 1. Women Serving Death Sentences
and life imprisonment, are a hallmark of the United
States’ harsh criminal legal system. Nationwide State
Women on Death Row
one of every 15 women in prison — over 6,600
21
women — are serving a sentence of life with parole, California
life without parole, or a virtual life sentence of 50 Texas
6
years or more. The nearly 2,000 women serving
Alabama
5
life-without-parole (LWOP) sentences1 can expect
4
to die in prison. Death sentences are permitted by Florida
27 states and the federal government, and currently Arizona
3
52 women sit on death row.2 This report presents
North Carolina
3
new data on the prevalence of both of these
Ohio
2
extreme sentences imposed on women.3
Across the U.S. there are nearly 2,000 women serving
life-without-parole (LWOP) sentences and another 52
women who have been sentenced to death. The majority
have been convicted of homicide. Regarding capital
punishment, women are sitting on death row in 15
states (Table 1). As shown in Figure 1, women are
serving LWOP sentences in all but six states.4 Three
quarters of life sentences are concentrated in 12 states
and the federal system. It is notable that in all states
with a high count of women serving LWOP, there is at
least one woman on death row as well. Two exceptions
to the overlap are Colorado and Michigan which do not
have anyone serving a death sentence because it is
not statutorily allowed.

Georgia

1

Idaho

1

Kentucky

1

Louisiana

1

Mississippi

1

Oklahoma

1

Pennsylvania

1

Tennessee

1

Source: Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, 2021.

The nearly 2,000 women serving life-withoutparole sentences can expect to die in prison.

In The Extreme 5

Figure 1. Women Serving Life without Parole in the United States
Florida
Pennsylvania
California
Michigan
Louisiana
Mississippi
North Carolina
Texas
Federal
58
Oklahoma
56
Georgia
50
Colorado
49
Alabama
48
Illinois
42
Iowa
41
South Carolina
34
Arizona
34
Missouri
32
Ohio
28
Arkansas
25
Massachusetts
21
Washington
21
West Virginia
19
Nevada
16
Maryland
15
Nebraska
12
Tennessee
11
New York
9
Kentucky
9
Oregon
Wisconsin ■ 8
Minnesota ■ 7
Idaho ■ 6
Delaware I 5
New Hampshire I 5
South Dakota I 4
Connecticut I 3
Montana I 3

241
193
179
173
129
91
81
72
67

--------••

Source: Nellis, A. (2021). No end in sight: America’s enduring reliance on life imprisonment. The Sentencing Project.

6 The Sentencing Project

CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN
SERVING EXTREME SENTENCES
RACE AND ETHNICITY

AGE AT OFFENSE

Women of color are disproportionately subjected to
extreme sentences compared to their white peers.
Nationally, one of every 39 Black women in prison is
serving life without parole compared with one of every
59 imprisoned white women.5 In Pennsylvania, one in
9 Black women in prison is serving LWOP; in Michigan
it’s one in 11, in Mississippi it’s one in 12, and in Louisiana
one in 14 Black women in prison have an LWOP sentence.

Analysis of homicide arrest data finds that women who
commit homicide do so somewhat later in life than
men. Whereas 48% of men who reportedly commit
homicide are under age 25 at the time of their offense,
nearly two thirds of women are at least 25 years old
when they commit homicide.10

Latinx women comprise 6% of the total number of LWOP
sentences being served by women. States with
substantial proportions of Latinx women serving LWOP
sentences are New York (36%), Texas (26%), California
(20%), and Arizona (15%). Among the 52 women serving
death sentences, 58% are white, 25% are Black, and
11% are Latinx.6 Forty-two percent of women on death
row are women of color.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Supplemental
Homicide Report provides incident-based details
regarding the race of persons arrested for homicide.
According to this data source, Black women account
for 49% of reported homicides committed by women
and white women account for 48%.7 Therefore while
Black women serving extreme sentences are
overrepresented in relation to the general population
(13%), they appear to be underrepresented in relation
to the representation in homicides reported to law
enforcement. Black women also represent a declining
proportion of women in prison in recent years because
of an increase in imprisonment among white women.8
However, there is evidence of disproportionately longer
prison sentences being served by Black people.9

The Sentencing Project received individual-level data
on persons serving life sentences, including LWOP, from
16 states and conducted a separate analysis of women
serving LWOP using this information. The states
included in the sample include 75% of the women
serving LWOP nationwide.11 States included in the
sample are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New
York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
Our analysis shows that on average women commit
offenses that result in extreme sentences of LWOP or
the death penalty in their early to mid thirties. The
average age at offense for people on death row was 36
years old12 and the average age at offense among
women serving LWOP sentences is 33 years old.
Thirty-two women serving LWOP sentences were under
18 at the time of their crime.13 One woman is serving
an LWOP sentence for a murder she committed at 14
years old. While the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death
penalty unconstitutional in 2005 for people who
committed their offense under 18,14 two women - Christa
Pike in Tennessee and Maria Alfaro in California are
awaiting execution for offenses they committed when
they were 18.

In The Extreme 7

Our sample of more than 1,000 women’s detailed
demographic and offense data reveals that 20% were
under 25 at the time of the crime.15 This age delineation
is important because science on adolescent development
commonly identifies 25 as the point at which the brain
is fully developed. Before this point, individuals are less
able to regulate their behaviors and foresee
consequences from their actions.16 Though a series of
United States Supreme Court rulings has distinguished
youth under 18 as categorically different in terms of
culpability for violent crime, emerging science suggests
a more accurate age for this cutoff should be 25.17
One third of the women serving LWOP are Black. Among
women in our sample of over 1,000 women across 16
states we find that Black women were on average 4.5
years younger at sentencing compared to white
women.18 Recent research on misperceptions of the
age and culpability of Black people may shed light on
this disparity. For example, using a college-age sample
of survey respondents, researcher Phillip Goff and
colleagues tested his theory that young people are not
all afforded a level of leniency by the legal system and
that Black youth specifically are excluded from this
leniency. They hypothesized that Black youth would be
perceived as both older than their chronological age
and more culpable for crimes than similarly situated
white youth. Their findings revealed strong empirical
support for both of these claims.19 Though restricted
to analyzing males, it is possible based on the data
trends we observe that Black women are perceived as
more culpable and older as well.

AGING IN PRISON
The average current age of women serving LWOP is 52.
Alice Green, 91, is the oldest female lifer. She has been
imprisoned for 45 years in Pennsylvania for her role in
a 1977 murder. The oldest woman on death row is
Blanche Moore in North Carolina, who is 88 years old.
The number of people in prison today who are age 55
or older has tripled since 2000.20 The tough-on-crime
policies that expanded life sentencing, prolonged the
time to review cases for possible parole releases, or
abolished parole altogether, have accelerated the buildup of elderly people in prison.21 The Sentencing Project’s
national census of people serving life sentences found
that 27% of people serving LWOP are at least 55 years
old, part of a growing trend of elderly imprisoned
Americans. Among the sample of women we analyzed,
a shocking 44% are currently at least 55 years old.
Preeminent scholars on the worldwide use of life
imprisonment Dirk van zyl Smit and Catherine Appleton
argue that the United States’ general acceptance of
sentencing people to die in prison contradicts
international human rights standards and practices.22
Indeed, several countries prohibit life sentences for
elderly persons and most countries place limits on
elderly persons being sentenced to prison.23

Figure 2. Age at Offense among Women Serving Life without Parole Sentences
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

8 The Sentencing Project

under 25

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65 and older

CRIME OF CONVICTION
All women on death row have been convicted of a first
degree or capital murder. Though a high standard of
involvement must be met before a death sentence is
imposed, several women have been sentenced to death
for crimes in which they did not personally kill the
victim.24 This circumstance is even more common
among women sentenced to LWOP. The number of
cases for which a defendant pled guilty to a lesser crime
in order to receive LWOP instead of a death sentence
is unknown at this time.

Within the sample of women serving LWOP, we find that
three quarters of the women have been convicted of
first degree murder and 95% have been convicted of
some type of murder (Table 2). One in 5 women serving
LWOP has been convicted of a homicide category below
the most egregious one available in the state’s criminal
statutes. Detailed homicide data show that approximately
half of victims killed by women between 2000 and 2015
were family members or intimate partners. By way of
comparison, 20% of homicides by men involve family
members or intimate partners.25

Table 2. Crime of Conviction among Sample of Women Serving Life Without Parole
Offense

Frequency

Percent of Total

First Degree Murder/Capital
Murder

828

76%

Second Degree Murder

181

17%

Murder (Other, Non-Negligent)

35

3%

Sexual Assault

23

2%

Aggravated Assault

13

1%

Drug Offense

4

0%

Robbery/Aggravated Robbery

2

0%

Property Offense

1

0%

Kidnapping

1

0%

In The Extreme 9

NAOMI BLOUNT WILSON
Naomi Blount Wilson is a Commutations Specialist
for the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, the arm of
the state that hears clemency pleas. She served
37 years of an LWOP sentence for a 1982 homicide.
In 2019 she was commuted by Governor Tom Wolf
after forensic evidence revealed that the victim had
been killed by someone else.26
Photo Credit: Joshua Vaughn

Allegedly gender-neutral sentencing policies, such as
mandatory minimums that do not account for differential
involvement in crime between major participants and
minor participants place women at an extreme legal
disadvantage.27 For instance, sentencing laws require
the same punishment regardless of a defendant’s role
in the crime, but women are frequently responsible for
a comparatively smaller role in certain violent crime
scenarios such as being a getaway driver.28 Because
they are sometimes coerced into involvement in such
crimes by romantic partners or husbands, they are also
often disproportionately punished where laws require
identical punishments for all defendants regardless of
their role in the crime.

10 The Sentencing Project

Consider so-called “felony murder” laws, which account
for situations where a death occurs during the
commission of a felony and as a result, all persons
involved in the underlying felony can be convicted of
homicide regardless of their role or even presence at
the crime.
In Michigan, 57 of the 203 women serving LWOP - over
one-quarter - have been convicted under the state’s
statute requiring this sentence for felony murder in the
first degree statute. In Pennsylvania, 40 of the 201
women reported to be serving LWOP have been convicted
of felony murder, amounting to one of every five women
serving LWOP.

SENTENCING TRENDS
Between 2008 and 2020 there was a 2% increase in the
number of women imprisoned for a violent crime, and
a 19% increase in the number of women serving a life
sentence. This includes a 10% increase in the life with
parole (LWP) population and a staggering 43% rise in
the number of women serving LWOP sentences.29
Death sentences imposed on women reached their
highest level to date in 1990 and have declined since.30
Today 52 women sit on death row awaiting execution.
In January 2021 federal death row prisoner Lisa
Montgomery was executed despite pleas worldwide to
stop her execution on the grounds of well-documented
evidence of severe mental health issues related to a
long history of trauma and abuse.31

LWOP sentences reached their peak in 2013, the year
in which 48 new LWOP sentences were imposed on
women.32 Yet even though new LWOP sentences
imposed on women have declined since 2013, the
cumulative nature of these death-in-prison sentences
means there were more women serving LWOP in 2020
than ever recorded. Some states, like Florida, have
imposed LWOP on women at an alarming annual average
of 11 per year since 2007. In 2018 alone Florida
sentenced 15 women to LWOP.

Figure 3. Extreme Sentences Imposed on Women, 1972-2018
-

LWOP Sentences Imposed

-

Death Sentences Imposed

LWOP Population

50

200

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40

150

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LWOP Population

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2010

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Note: The LWOP sentences included in this figure represent 15 states and 75% of the national population of women serving LWOP. Readers should note
that California, which accounts for 20% of the national population, is not included here because data were not obtained from this state.

In The Extreme 11

TRAUMA PLAYS A PIVOTAL ROLE
The circumstances that lead women to commit violent
crimes are often complicated by a history of sexual
and/or physical trauma.33 Women serving life sentences
report high levels of psychiatric disorders, histories of
physical and sexual violence, and previous suicide
attempts. One study finds that more than one third of
women serving life sentences have attempted suicide.34
“Every prosecutor describes women convicted of
murder as cunning, diabolical, monster, and evil,”
[Kwaneta Harris] wrote. “I’ve yet to encounter these
‘monsters,’ although I’ve met plenty of women with
mental illness, untreated and undiagnosed.”35
Some women commit violence in response to intimate
partner victimization. A seminal study of 42 survivors
of intimate partner abuse convicted of murder in
California found that all but two had received life
sentences: six were sentenced to life without parole,
and the remaining 34 received life sentences with
minimums that ranged from seven to 15 years, but at
the time of the study all these women had already served
25 years.36 Additionally, interview data from 99 women
serving life sentences showed that 17% had been
convicted of killing their former or current intimate
partner.
Today we know more about the short- and long-term
impact of physical, sexual, and verbal abuse on criminal
conduct. We know, for instance, that almost all who
commit violence have first experienced it.37
Yet allowance for trauma as a mitigating factor in
culpability and punishment is still rarely recognized in
court. Lawmakers in New York have attempted to correct
for this omission with the 2019 passage of its Domestic
Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA), Penal Law
Section 60.12. The law allows relief for defendants and
currently incarcerated persons who have been sentenced

12 The Sentencing Project

to at least eight years in prison for a crime in which
domestic abuse was a significant contributing factor
to the crime. Some crimes are excluded, including firstdegree murder, certain forms of second-degree murder,38
aggravated murder, terrorism, or any attempt or
conspiracy to commit these offenses. People who are
required to be on the state’s sex offense registry are
also excluded from applying for review. Though the law
is flawed in its restrictions, it is a first step in the legal
acknowledgement that trauma and abuse correlate
with violent crime, a fact which has been demonstrated
clearly by many government and academic reports.
Scholar Beth Richie documents the higher incidence
of abuse endured by Black women and comments that
some of the unique vulnerabilities of being both Black
and female include reduced access to crisis intervention
programs, a greater likelihood that a weapon will be
used in an assault, and legitimate distrust in police to
respond effectively to violence by an intimate partner.39
The well-documented outcomes of the domestic
violence movement, including pressing for law
enforcement solutions such as mandatory arrest and
sentencing enhancement policies,40 also extend to
extreme punishments imposed on individuals who
commit homicide to escape domestic violence. These
limited approaches have likely contributed to a
disproportionate share of women of color receiving
extreme punishments in response to homicides
committed in order to escape domestic violence.
Richie also asserts that Black women’s arrest and
incarceration is often the result of gender entrapment,
a concept she uses to theorize how Black women’s
experiences of intimate partner violence, racism, sexism,
economic marginalization, and stigma led them to
participate in illegal activities. Black women’s
circumstances heighten their risk of contact with the
criminal legal system.41

All women who encounter the criminal legal system
face institutions that are designed principally by men
and for men. Stephanie Covington, an internationallyrecognized clinician on trauma-informed responses to
violence, writes the following with Professor Emeritus
Barbara Bloom in their research on women who commit

violence: “Women offenders are being swept up in a
system that appears to be eager to treat women equally,
which actually means as if they were men. Since this
orientation does not change the role of gender in prison
life or corrections, female prisoners receive the worst
of both worlds.”42

ERICA SHEPPARD

Erica Sheppard (right) pictured here at age 24 with long-time death penalty abolitionist
Sister Helen Prejean (left).

Erica Sheppard is facing execution
in Texas. Like many women
embroiled in the criminal legal
system, her past consists of child
abuse, domestic violence, rape, and
chronic neglect.

Erica’s childhood was characterized by unrelenting poverty and savage violence. Her father was an
alcoholic who beat her mother in front of the children. Her mother physically assaulted the children as
well. Sheppard’s teenage pregnancy was a result of a rape and forced her to drop out of high school. A
series of romantic relationships followed that were dominated by emotional, sexual, and physical abuse.
In 1993, at the age of 19, she was coerced by a friend of her brother’s to take part in a burglary in which
a woman was killed. At the time of Erica’s prosecution, the Harris County, Texas prosecutor’s office was
imbued with racism, and had a well-documented history of seeking the death penalty more frequently
in cases involving a Black defendant and white victim. As a Black teenager accused of killing a white
woman, her death sentence appeared to be a forgone conclusion. Her lawyer was inexperienced and
unprepared. He declined to present evidence about Erica’s extensive history of rape and domestic
violence, and failed to explain the effects of trauma on her mental health.
Sheppard is now 47 years old and has been on death row for 26 years. She is physically disabled and
needs a walker to move around her cell. A grandmother now, she maintains connection to her children
as well as she can. Her death sentence serves no purpose but to perpetuate the cycle of trauma and
discrimination that led to her involvement in the criminal legal system.

In The Extreme 13

CONCLUSION
Women represent a small but growing portion of the
prison population facing extreme sentences. Reforms
advanced to end the use of extreme sentences will need
to pay attention to the nuanced life experiences of
women serving life in prison, as these have shaped their
behaviors as well as their prison experiences.

A wealth of evidence suggests that women encounter
gender-based stigma and bias that negatively affects
their court outcomes. Their experience of violence--both
as victims and as perpetrators--are distinct from the
experiences of men, but women are subjected to a
criminal legal system that does not acknowledge these
important differences.

MONICA SZLEKOVICS
Monica in the college office at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in 2018. Photo courtesy of Sara Bennett.

Monica Szlekovics arrived at Bedford Correctional Center in New York when she was 20 years old
to serve a life sentence for contributing to crimes for which she had been forced to participate by
her abusive husband.
In her two decades of imprisonment, she committed a life of purpose and underwent a profound
internal transformation. Her accomplishments include earning her college degree (with honors),
immersing herself in counseling, and maintaining a near spotless disciplinary record. Former New
York Governor Andrew Cuomo commuted her sentence in 2019 and she was released.

14 The Sentencing Project

ENDNOTES
1.
2.

3.

4.

5.
6.
7.

8.
9.

10.
11.
12.
13.
14.

15.

Nellis, A. (2021). No end in sight: America’s enduring reliance on life imprisonment. The Sentencing Project.
Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide (2021).
Country reports. Cornell University; Death Penalty Information Center (n.d.) State by state: States with and without the
death penalty-2021. DPIC.
Data used in this report include data collection by The Sentencing Project from state departments of corrections as
part of its quadrennial census of people serving life sentences. In addition, The Sentencing Project has obtained
detailed data from departments of corrections in 16 states
on 1,098 women serving life without parole. Combined
these data represent 75% of the total population of women serving LWOP but do not include California which is
20% alone. Data on the number of women serving death
sentences was obtained through the Death Penalty Information Center as well as the Cornell Center on the Death
Penalty Worldwide.
The six states where there are no women currently serving
LWOP are Alaska, Hawaii, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode
Island, and Wyoming. Virginia did not provide data on its
life-sentenced population but is known to have women
serving LWOP. LWOP is not authorized in Alaska.
The federal system, Bureau of Prisons, did not provide race
or ethnicity data disaggregated by sex for its life-sentenced
population. Virginia did not provide data for this report.
Four percent are Asian American and 2% are American Indian.
Puzzanchera, C., Chamberlin, G., & Kang, W. (2020). Easy
access to the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports: 19802019. National Center for Juvenile Justice. The FBI database does not track data according to ethnicity.
Sabol, W. J., Johnson, T. L., & Caccavale, A. (2019). Trends
in correctional control by race and sex. Council on Criminal
Justice
Johnson, B., Spohn, C. & Kimchi, A. (2021). Life lessons:
Examining sources of racial and ethnic disparity in federal life without parole sentences. Criminology, 59, 4, 1-35;
Sabol, W. J., Johnson, T. L., & Caccavale, A. (2019). Trends
in correctional control by race and sex. Council on Criminal
Justice
Fox, J. A. & Fridel, E. E. (2017). Gender differences in patterns and trends in U.S. homicide. Violence and Gender,
4(2), 37-43.
California, which accounts for 20% of the life-sentenced
population, is not included in this sample because data
were not obtained from this state.
To our knowledge age at offense for the women serving
death sentences has not been published.
Nellis, A. (2021). No end in sight: America’s enduring reliance on life imprisonment. The Sentencing Project.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roper v Simmons, 543
U.S. 551 (2005) invalidated all death sentences imposed
on individuals who were under age 18 at the time of the
crime.
When age at offense is not available we substitute age at
sentencing with a 6-month extension to approximate the
age at offense. This is a very conservative estimate of age
considering that many trials or plea negotiations take up-

wards of one year to be finished.
16. Steinberg, L. Around the world, adolescence is a time of
heightened sensation seeking and immature self-regulation. Developmental Science, 21,2, 1-26.
17. Bersani, B., Western, B., & Laub, J. (2019). Thinking about
emerging adults and violent crime. Columbia University Justice Lab.
18. To conduct this analysis, we used a representative sample of 1,908 women serving LWOP sentences. The average age at sentencing to LWOP for White women was 35
years old. The average age for Black women was 31 years
old. An independent samples t-test was conducted and revealed these differences to be statistically significant at the
p=.001 level (F=14318, t=6.007).
19. Goff, P. et al. (2014). The essence of innocence: Consequences of dehumanizing Black children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 4, 526-545.
20. Li, W. & Lewis, W. (2020, March 19). This chart shows why
the prison population is so vulnerable to COVID-19. The
Marshall Project.
21. Ghandnoosh, N. (2017). Delaying a second chance: The declining prospects for parole on a life sentence. Washington:
DC: The Sentencing Project.
22. Van Zyl Smit, D. and Appleton, C. (2019). Life imprisonment
worldwide: A global human rights analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
23. Van Zyl Smit, D. and Appleton, C. (2019). Life imprisonment
worldwide: A global human rights analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
24. Death Penalty Information Center (n.d.) Executions overview: Executed but did not directly kill victim. DPIC.
25. Fox, J. A. & Fridel, E. E. (2017). Gender differences in patterns and trends in U.S. homicide. Violence and Gender,
4(2), 37-43.
26. Vaughn, J. (2020, December 7). Facing Life. The Appeal.
27. DeCourcy, E. (2020). The injustice of formal gender equality
in sentencing. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 47(2), 395-430.
28. Fox, J. A. & Fridel, E. E. (2017). Gender differences in patterns and trends in U.S. homicide. Violence and Gender,
4(2), 37-43.
29. Nellis, A. (2021). No end in sight: America’s enduring reliance on life imprisonment. The Sentencing Project
30. Death Penalty Information Center (n.d.) Womens death sentences since 1973: number and geography.
31. Winter, H. M. (2021). Lisa Montgomery suffered years of
abuse and trauma. The United States killed her anyway.
Rolling Stone.
32. Additional research is necessary to determine the cause(s)
for this decline. With the exception of Florida, states reduced their LWOP sentences applied to women beginning
in 2013.
33. Covington, S. and Bloom, B. (2003). Gendered justice: Women in the criminal justice system. In Gendered Justice: Addressing Female Offenders. 1. Richie, B. (2012). Arrested
justice: Black women, violence, and America’s prison nation.
New York University Press.
34. Lempert, L. B. (2016). Women doing life: Gender punishment, and the struggle for identity. New York University

In The Extreme 15

Press.
35. Van Der Leun, J. (June 29, 2020). “I hope our daughters will
not be punished.” Dissent.
36. Lempert, L. B. (2016). Women doing life: Gender punishment, and the struggle for identity. New York University
Press
37. Nellis, A. (2013). The lives of juvenile lifers: Findings from a
national survey. The Sentencing Project; Sered, D. (2019).
Until we reckon: Violence, mass incarceration, and a road to
repair. The New Press.
38. Those under P.L. Section 125.25(5).
39. Richie, B. (2012). Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence,
and America’s Prison Nation. NYU Press.
40. Goodmark, L. (2018). Decriminalizing domestic violence.
University of California Press; Kim, M. E. (2020). The
carceral creep: Gender-based violence, race, and the expansion of the punitive state, 1973-1983. Social Problems, 67,
251-269. Goodmark, Kim, and others argue that law enforcement responses to domestic violence have not been
without controversy. At the time of the passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), it was widely believed
that mandatory arrest policies were an ideal solution for
interrupting domestic violence and keeping victims safe.
Later studies showed that arrests actually had no significant influence on helping victims in the long-term and in
some instances they were even shown to increase future
violence and sink low-income families into poverty. The
laws also reduced victim reporting rates due to the fear
of retaliation and caused the abusive relationships to last
longer. Advocates warn against the “carceral creep” of a
law enforcement response to domestic violence, favoring
optional arrest policies combined with community-led responses that invest in social services to assist both victims
and perpetrators.
41. Richie, B. (2006). Compelled to crime: The gender entrapment of battered Black women. Routledge.
42. Covington, S. & Bloom, B. (2003). Gendered justice: Women in the criminal justice system. In Gendered Justice: Addressing Female Offenders, 4.

16 The Sentencing Project

In The Extreme: Women Serving Life
Without Parole and Death Sentences
in the United States
Ashley Nellis, Ph.D.
September 2021

THE
SENTENCING
PROJECT
RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY FOR REFORM

National
Black Women's
Justice Institute

The report is a joint publication of The Sentencing Project, National Black
Women’s Justice Institute and the Cornell University Center on the Death
Penalty Worldwide who together in 2020 formed the Alice Project. The
collaboration seeks to highlight the experiences of incarcerated women
and girls, to eliminate extreme sentences, and to reduce the influence of
racial and gender bias in the criminal legal system.
Related publications by The Sentencing Project:
•
•
•

No End In Sight: America’s Enduring Reliance on Life Imprisonment (2021)
A Second Look at Injustice (2021)
The Next Step: Ending Excessive Punishment for Violent Crimes (2019)

Cornell Law School
Cornell
ntPr on tlf:"
Death Pena ty Worldw,d

In The Extreme 17