Introduction As Americans we are accustomed to living freely and making our own choices. That is not true for a large amount of Americans currently serving life without parole sentences in our correctional system. Life without the possibility of parole is a highly debated topic for many reasons. Many people believe that it is a fitting punishment for people who commit serious felonies because they have committed a crime so bad they lost their chance at freedom. On the other hand people believe it is considered cruel and unusual to keep an offender in prison for so long. Some people even refer to it as the other death penalty because these offenders will never live free again. In this paper I plan to look at my opinion of the life without the possibility of parole argument. I do not believe life without parole should be a sentence that is handed out often. I do understand that there are some people that will never be able to be …show more content…
I believe that people who commit drug crimes do not belong in prison for the rest of their life. Many of these drug crimes are nonviolent and these people could become productive members of society. I also believe the sentencing should not be mandatory for all first-degree murder cases, and that each case needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. In this paper I plan to state my arguments on why life without parole is a sentence that should be handed out carefully. I first plan to look at the statistics of inmates to give a clear understanding of how many people are currently serving life without parole sentences in the United States prisons. I then plan to look at the second reason I believe that life without parole sentences should not be handed out that often. This reason is the cost of holding a prisoner long term, and the burden that is having on the United States