Lawmakers and nonprofit leaders are spearheading an effort to add Rhode Island to the growing number of states that have abolished life without parole sentences for young offenders.
On Jan. 15, R.I. legislators introduced a bill in the state House of Representatives that would protect individuals who commit crimes when they are 21 years old or younger from receiving life without parole sentences.
Currently in Rhode Island, only two offenses — first-degree murder and kidnapping that results in death — carry a potential sentence of life without parole. To be punishable by life without parole, the crime must be paired with at least one aggravating factor, a circumstance that increases a crime’s severity, such as torture. Currently, the most extreme sentence of life without parole is not mandated for either crime, giving judges and juries the responsibility to determine whether the punishment is appropriate…