In this opinion piece, Caitlin Glass, Lecturer and Clinical Instructor at Boston University School of Law and Director of the Racial Justice and Movement Lawyering Clinic, argues that Massachusetts should reform its joint-venture and felony-murder doctrines because they allow people who did not kill or intend to kill to receive the same extreme penalties as actual killers. The piece highlights cases where accomplices received life sentences despite limited or reluctant involvement, notes racial disparities in felony-murder prosecutions and sentencing, and cites reforms in other states (California, Minnesota, Colorado, Pennsylvania) that reduce mandatory life terms and allow more individualized punishment. The author supports pending Massachusetts legislation to create a distinct accomplice-murder offense with a maximum sentence of 25 years, applied retroactively to give relief to those serving life under current doctrines, and contends the change would better align punishment with moral culpability without undermining public safety.