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life imprisonment

British

noun

(in Britain) an indeterminate sentence always given for murder and as a maximum sentence in several other crimes. There is no remission, although the Home Secretary may order the prisoner's release on licence

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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life imprisonment

Under the current law, deliberately starting forest fires is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, or life imprisonment in certain cases.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

As expected, the court rendered a guilty verdict against the Rueggs in August 1932, though it downgraded the death sentence to life imprisonment in a concession to international opinion.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

Under the new legislation, capital punishment will be replaced with life imprisonment with hard labour.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Tarrant's penalty of life imprisonment without parole was the stiffest in New Zealand history.

From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026

The trial court sentenced Mrs. Colbey to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, and a short while later she found herself shackled in a prison van heading to the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023