Settling and Pleading for LWOP

Abstract

In courtrooms, defence attorneys, too, rely on LWOP to avoid a death sentence for their client. In examining sentencing pathways, Chapter 3 finds that very little space is given to prosecutors, lawyers, and judges and jurors to discuss or debate, evaluate, and review the severity of LWOP. In part, this has to do with how the sentencing mechanisms—such as plea bargaining, mandatory application, and proportionality review—detach the offender, in particular his or her level of culpability, from the punishment. This chapter triangulates textual analysis of criminal and sentencing laws in California and interviews with prosecutors and defence lawyers. It also relies on a small statistical component of data on LWOP and death sentences collected from two district attorney’s offices (Alameda and Los Angeles).