Taking Life Imprisonment Seriously: in National and International Law (Hartmut-Michael Weber)

Smit, Dirk van Zyl

doi:10.1515/mks-2005-0014

Cited by 7 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…The use of habitual offender statutes with mandatory life sentences for repeat offenders and their impact on public policy have been researched to some extent in a number of states (Beres & Griffith, 2001/2002Sigler & Culliver, 1988;Taifa, 1995). The habitual offender regulations attempt to incapacitate offenders committed to their criminal careers for particularly long periods of time (Sigler & Culliver, 1988).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The habitual offender regulations attempt to incapacitate offenders committed to their criminal careers for particularly long periods of time (Sigler & Culliver, 1988). In response to the federal government implementing truth-in-sentencing guidelines in the early 1990s, habitual offender statutes were passed in the majority of U.S. states (Beres & Griffith, 2001/2002. These laws are typically referred to as "Two-"or "Three-Strikes-Laws."…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the majority of lifers 1 in the United States eventually become eligible for parole after having served a minimum time behind bars and if found suitable for release, some lifers are serving a particular type of a life sentence, the life without parole (LWOP) version. Such a sentence typically means that offenders will spend the rest of their lives behind bars if they are not, in exceptional cases, commuted or receive executive pardon (van Zyl Smit, 2002;Wright, 1990). While life-with-parole sentence is also referred to as "reducible," LWOP is considered "irreducible" (van Zyl Smit, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most Western industrialized countries which allow for a life sentence as a penalty option for punishing criminal offenders typically impose these sentences on those convicted of the most heinous crimes, especially of first degree murder (van Zyl Smit, 2002). As such, life sentences constitute the harshest punishment available for criminal offenders in these countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Settling Down Behind Bars

Schartmueller

2015

The Prison Journal

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In many U.S. states, the number of inmates serving life with or without parole has skyrocketed in recent decades. In Alabama, a state with particularly high incarceration rates, approximately every sixth inmate is serving a life sentence. This research investigates which specific factors led to Alabama's extensive use of life sentences. Findings suggest that Alabama's lifer population largely stems from an inadvertent application of the state's Habitual Felony Offender Statute. Furthermore, the state's stringent discretionary parole practices have minimized the chances of release for parole-eligible lifers. These factors have contributed to prison overcrowding and the aging of inmates.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Settling Down Behind Bars

Schartmueller

2015

The Prison Journal

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“…Detention, both its quantity and quality, has been considered in dignitarian terms by the United States Supreme Court in the light of both the Eighth Amendment (cruel and unusual punishment) and the Fourteenth Amendment (due process). It plays a distinctive role in discussions of the extent to which hard penalties can be imposed because of recidivism (‘three strike rules’) and in capital cases other than those involving murder (Van Zyl Smit, 2002, p. 58f.…”

Section: Comparative Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Human dignity: comparative and conceptual debates

Riley

2010

International Journal of Law in Context

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Is there a stable set of practices or assumptions surrounding dignity, and would these necessarily denote a single foundation sustaining that stability? Two contemporary debates offer contrasting approaches to these questions. In the first, two jurists, who share agreement over the appearances of dignity in post-1945 jurisprudence, disagree as to whether these appearances form an emerging ius commune or a contingent set of conceptions. The second, comparative, debate explores the functional consequences of dignity’s aristocratic resonances. One position posits a continuing relationship between dignity and aristocratic nobility; the other, a functional division between dignity-within-aristocracy and dignity-within-democracy. This article insists that clarification of these debates depends upon a distinction between the epistemology and ontology of dignity, and, further, a distinction between dignity’s genealogy and its grammar. It concludes that a complex genealogical inheritance is at the heart of much disagreement, and that attention to dignity’s use clarifies its deficiencies and its continuing appeal.

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A place for public concerns in parole decision making in Japan

Toda

2023

Howard J Crime Justice

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In recent years, parole decision makers have grappled with an intensifying challenge in addressing public concerns. While discussions on the rise of ‘parole populism’ have emerged, especially in Canada, the United States, Australia and England and Wales, little is known about the way public concerns influence parole release in Japan. This article engages in legal‐systematic analysis of the intricate relationship between public concerns and Japanese parole decision making in general and release from life imprisonment in particular. The article argues that, while Japanese selective parole decision making considering public concerns in secrecy may have partially contributed to political rhetoric encouraging parole, it also poses unique challenges distinct from those in Anglophone jurisdictions. It reveals the value of fostering a transparent and accountable parole decision‐making system to promote a more balanced and fairer approach to parole in the Japanese context.

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Taking Life Imprisonment Seriously: in National and International Law (Hartmut-Michael Weber)

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Settling Down Behind Bars

Settling Down Behind Bars

Human dignity: comparative and conceptual debates

A place for public concerns in parole decision making in Japan

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