Learn about some of the people who’ve been sentenced to life without parole – death by incarceration (DBI) – under Pennsylvania’s cruel felony murder law. This law requires that someone who engages in a crime that’s determined to be a felony that also results in a death can be charged with second-degree murder, even if they didn’t cause, intend, or even know about the death. This charge carries an automatic DBI sentence in Pennsylvania with no exception. PA is a national leader in sentencing people to die in prison for felony murder, with more than 1,000 people serving this sentence.

Here are some of their stories.