LIFE AFTER MURDER is an intimately reported, utterly compelling story of five convicted murderers sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. One had shot his wife’s lover; another killed a man in a botched burglary; a third killed a teenager in a car crash as he fled the police; the fourth stabbed a man in a gang fight; and the fifth shot an innocent man during an armed robbery. It follows each man’s struggle for redemption, his legal battles to make good on the state’s promise of parole, and the challenge of resuming, twenty-plus years down the road, the life he left behind. After decades in prison, that second chance, if it comes at all, is the challenge of a lifetime.
Mullane explains what she found: “The men in this book all did the unthinkable-for some, the unforgivable. They killed people, tore families apart, and devastated communities. Sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, they were offered a promise of sorts: that if they complied with society’s demands-if they paid the price for their crime and reformed-one day they could earn a second chance at freedom. Each man took that hope to heart and worked for years to turn his life around.”
“Life After Murder challenges us to do the unthinkable in the era of mass incarceration – view those accused of heinous crimes as worthy of our care, compassion and concern…Through their stories we are reminded of the power and possibility of redemption, as well the nearly unforgivable crime our nation has committed: treating some human beings as disposable.”
– MICHELLE ALEXANDER, author of The New Jim Crow