In a forceful and necessary argument Marc Mauer and Ashley Nellis of The Sentencing Project argue that there is no practical or moral justification for a sentence longer than twenty years. In fact, harsher sentences have been shown to have little effect on crime rates. Featuring moving profiles of half a dozen people currently serving life sentences written by former 'lifer' and award-winning writer Kerry Myers, falsely convicted of murder and released after serving twenty-seven years of his life sentence, this book offers a much-needed road map to a more humane criminal justice system.