This case aims to end the state of Pennsylvania’s mandatory imposition of death-by-incarceration sentences, otherwise known as life without parole, for Derek Lee and others convicted of felony murder.

In 2014, Mr. Lee was convicted of felony murder for his alleged participation in a robbery that lead to a death that he did not commit and sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. He is challenging the constitutionality of his sentence under the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Pennsylvania Constitution, which prohibits “cruel punishments.”

The application of the felony murder rule, which holds liable for murder a person who participates in a felony that leads to a death, is particularly extreme in Pennsylvania because the mandatory minimum sentence is life without parole. This contributes to the state’s status as a world capital of death by incarceration. With 5,200 people serving DBI sentences, the state has the country’s highest per capita rate and accounts for 10 percent of the U.S. total. Philadelphia county alone has more people serving these sentences than 45 states, and more than any country other than the United States. In Pennsylvania, as in the United States, Black people are disproportionately impacted. For example, of over 1,100 people sentenced to life without parole for felony murder in Pennsylvania, 70 percent are Black people.

While Mr. Lee’s case concerns only a subset of people serving DBI sentences, it could have broad implications for the legal and political effort to reduce or end life imprisonment.