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A "life sentence" may sound like a lifetime, but it's often much shorter. There are two types of life sentences: life with the possibility of parole (indeterminate life sentence), and life without the possibility of parole (determinate life sentence). According to AnswerBag, judges often sentence prisoners to consecutive life sentences to lower their chances of a speedy parole. Judges can also issue consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. They likely do this for several reasons. First, it's the law. If someone is convicted of murdering several people, they can receive multiple life sentences (even though it may seem redundant or
pointless). Second, a double conviction serves as a kind of insurance policy in the event one of the convictions is later overturned. There doesn't seem to be any official rule or law on how long a life sentence actually is. The amount of time a prisoner spends in the big house depends greatly on judges and parole boards, but it is getting longer. According to this 2004 article from the Boston Globe, "the average amount of time served by criminals given life sentences increased from 21 years in 1991 to 29 years in 1997." 29 years isn't exactly a lifetime, but in prison, it must seem like
it.
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