Committee votes 'inexpedient to legislate' on bill to allow parole hearings for some life-without-parole inmates

The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee voted 9-7 in favor of a motion described in the hearing transcript as “inexpedient to legislate” on House Bill 638, preventing further legislative action on the bill in that committee.

Supporters of HB 638 argued the measure would not automatically release inmates but would make a small number of people eligible for a parole hearing so the parole board could evaluate rehabilitation and any new circumstances. Proponents cited rare cases — including at least one veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder whose conviction occurred at a time when such conditions were less understood — and noted the fiscal note estimated the population affected to be small (about 15 people at the time of testimony).

Opponents said a sentence of life without the possibility of parole is imposed to reflect the seriousness of certain crimes and contended that reopening such sentences would repeatedly force victims’ families to relive trauma. Representative Prue recounted personal experience with a family member who was murdered and said victims’ families are repeatedly notified of parole processes and must relive the harm. Other members argued that if society wants people to be eligible for parole, it should remove life-without-parole as a statutory sentence and replace it with life (with parole eligibility), rather than create exceptions.

Committee members also discussed whether the parole board is sufficiently rigorous and the limited path for retrial or post-conviction relief under current law; committee members noted that a new-trial pathway exists only where new evidence affects guilt or innocence and that life-without-parole in New Hampshire is mandatory for first-degree murder. After debate the committee voted 9-7 for the motion to make the bill inexpedient to legislate.