Second Chances: A Follow-Up on Capital Murder Defendants Sentenced to Life in Prison with the Possibility of Parole

Abstract

This study examines the release processes and post-release outcomes of individuals in North Carolina convicted of capital murder who were either initially sentenced to life with the possibility of parole or sentenced to death and later resentenced to life with the possibility of parole. The time period covered is 1977 to 1994, an era before North Carolina implemented life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) as the alternative sentence to the death penalty. Using logistic regression, we assess factors associated with parole decisions, including indicators of offender blameworthiness, community protection, and extra-legal considerations. We then analyze time to recidivism and offense types among those released, employing Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Finally, we explore associations between case, offender and victim characteristics, and recidivism using Fisher’s Exact Tests for dichotomous variables and nonparametric tests for continuous variables. Major findings indicate that of those whose life sentence remained intact (n = 360), 159 (43.3%) have been granted parole. Of those, only 9 (5.7%) were later convicted of a crime, none of which were of a violent nature. These findings challenge the common justification for life without parole as necessary to prevent future harm, suggesting that assumptions about the dangerousness of capital murder offenders may be overstated.