That question is the title of a new paper I’ve just uploaded to SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This essay introduces a new issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter that is devoted to different aspects of the sentence of life without parole. An important question raised by many of the articles is whether LWOP, after two decades of explosive growth, is entering a period of decline. For instance, the Supreme Court declared LWOP unconstitutional for most juvenile offenders in May 2010, possibly inaugurating an era of more meaningful constitutional limitations on very long sentences. Additionally, many cash-strapped states have been developing new early-release programs in order to reduce corrections budgets, some of which hold out hope even for LWOP inmates. This essay considers the likelihood that these and other recent developments will contribute to a decline in LWOP. In the end, none of the developments portend dramatic changes, at least regarding LWOP for adult offenders, although it is possible that LWOP will undergo a period of slow, long-term decline, much as has occurred with the death penalty. After laying out this perspective, the essay then considers whether the United States ought to welcome such a period of decline.

The LWOP issue of FSR, which I edited, has just come out in print.  The issue includes nine commentaries by leading Eighth Amendment scholars on the Supreme Court’s juvenile LWOP decision, Graham v. Sullivan.  It also includes articles on Wisconsin’s new compassionate release law (by our own Greg O’Meara), executive clemency for lifers, Europe’s movement towards banning LWOP, the rapid expansion of LWOP in the U.S., and the advantages and disadvantages of LWOP as a sentencing alternative to the death penalty.  I have a few extra copies of the issue and would be happy to send copies out upon request to michael.ohear@marquette.edu.

Cross posted at Life Sentences.