Texas should stop spending billions to incarcerate so many people for life
Over-reliance on life and virtual life sentences is not just a Texas problem. The number of people serving life sentences in U.S. prisons is at an all-time high, even as national crime statistics are down substantially from a mid-1990s peak. Nearly 162,000 people are serving life sentences in America. An additional 44,311 individuals are serving virtual life sentences.