HOPE OF RELEASE: THE IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT OF LIFE IMPRISONMENT IN LITHUANIA (IMPACT)
The Research Council of Lithuania, under its funding measure “Researcher Groups Projects”, has granted financial support to a project implemented by the Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences – “Hope of Release: The Implementation and Impact of Life Imprisonment in Lithuania” (IMPACT).
Lithuania stands out in the European context for its extensive use of life imprisonment. In 2019, legislative amendments were adopted in Lithuania granting individuals serving life sentences the right to apply for the commutation of their sentence to a fixed-term custodial sentence of between five and ten years, provided that they have served at least 20 years of their sentence and meet other criteria established by the court. However, to date no comprehensive national research study has been conducted in Lithuania examining the historical development of this penalty and the application of the newly imposed life imprisonment system.
The overarching aim of the IMPACT project is to critically assess the implementation and impact of life imprisonment in Lithuania, employing a multi-method and interdisciplinary approach. To achieve this goal, the study has three key objectives:
- To examine the evolution and contemporary practice of life imprisonment in Lithuania and assess prison staff perspectives on its practice and implementation.
- To develop a comprehensive national database capturing the characteristics, patterns and trends of individuals subject to life imprisonment in Lithuania.
- To investigate, through individual in-depth qualitative face-to-face interviews, the first-hand experiences of prisoners serving life sentences in Lithuania and the extent to which the release system offers institutional hope of release.
The research team of the project consists of: Dr Catherine Appleton (Project leader), Prof. Dr Artūras Tereškinas, Assoc. Prof. Dr Simonas Nikartas, PhD student Goda Dainauskaitė, and Ieva Ruzgytė.
Project partners: the Lithuanian Prison Service (Lithuania) and Penal Reform International (Kingdom of the Netherlands).
Project duration: 12 November 2025 – 28 April 2028.
Project budget – approximately EUR 200,000.
The project is funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), Contract No. S-MIP-25-78.