As part of CRIN’s inhuman sentencing campaign, we monitor life imprisonment of children around the world and track relevant legal reform. This page includes country profiles for Asia detailing the legality of life imprisonment in each country, how life imprisonment is defined nationally and, where the information is available, how many children are serving life imprisonment.
Please contact us at [email protected] if you are aware of any inaccuracies in this information of legal reforms underway to amend relevant legislation in any State.
Afghanistan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited as a penalty for persons under the age of 18.1
Meaning of life imprisonment
A person serving a life sentence must serve a minimum term of 15 years of imprisonment before being considered for conditional release.2 In ordering conditional release, the court is able to place “behavioural prescriptions” on the person released.3 Conditional release may be revoked if the person serving the life sentence commits another crime or “commits gross violations” of the restrictions placed upon them.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No child under the age of 12 can be held criminally responsible.4 However, during its review of Afghanistan in 2011, the Committee on the Rights of the Child criticised the State for detaining children under the age of criminal responsibility in Juvenile Rehabilitation Centres.5
Maximum penalties
Children aged 16 or 17 may not be sentenced to more than half of the maximum sentence for an adult. The maximum period of imprisonment under the Penal Code for an adult appears to be 20 years, so a children aged 16 or 17 should not be sentenced to more than 10 years' imprisonment.6
Children aged 12 to 16 may not be sentenced to more than a third of the maximum sentence for an adult. The maximum period of imprisonment under the Penal Code for an adult appears to be 20 years, so a children aged 12 to 15 should not be sentenced to more than six years and eight months.7
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Bahrain
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is lawful for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
It is not clear how parole and conditional release are determined for people serving life imprisonment in Bahrain, hard labour forms a part of all imprisonment sentences.8
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
The Penal Code provides that no person who was younger than 15 at the time an alleged offence was committed may be held liable under the Code, but must be subject to the Juveniles Law.9 In effect, 15 is the age of criminal majority, the age at which children can be tried under the criminal justice system that applies to adults. Children older than 15 can be subject to the penalties under the Penal Code.
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment
Persons aged 15 to 18 are sentenced under the Penal Code but benefit from “extenuating justification”.10 In practice, this means that the penalty for persons between these ages should be decreased to imprisonment for at least a year where the death penalty would be otherwise applicable or to the penalty for a misdemeanour where the penalty would otherwise be life imprisonment or fixed term imprisonment.11 There is no explicit cap, however, on the maximum term of imprisonment for persons within this age bracket and life imprisonment is not prohibited.
Number of children serving life imprisonment
No comprehensive statistics could be located to identify how many people are serving life imprisonment for an offence committed while under the age of 18, but NGOs have reported on several cases in which child offenders have allegedly been sentenced to life imprisonment.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) reported that a 17 year old boy was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2010 in relation to charges of causing the death of a policeman.12 The Committee on the Rights of the Child took up the issue in its 2011 review of the State and expressed concern at the insufficient information provided by the State in relation to the allegation. The Committee urged the State to investigate the case and whether the sentence had been reviewed.13 In August the BCHR reported that a further two children aged 16 and 17 had been sentenced to life imprisonment for involvement in the murder of a policeman in Sitra.14
Bangladesh
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment for children is explicitly prohibited.15
Meaning of life imprisonment
The definition of “life” with regards to a life sentence is unclear in Bangladeshi law. Section 57 of the Penal Code provides that a life sentence is taken to be one of 30 years when calculating “fractions” of a sentence, but section 45 of the Penal Code indicates that “life” denotes the life of a human being unless the contrary appears from the context. When commuting a life sentence, the executive may implement a fixed term sentence of 20 years or less.16
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No person can be held criminally responsible for an offence allegedly committed while they were under the age of 9.17
Maximum penalties
When a child is found guilty of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, the Children’s Court may order that the child be detained in a Child Development Centre for between three and 10 years. For any other offence, the Court may sentence a child to no more than three years' detention in such a facility.18
Number of children in detention
In January 2000, there were four children under 15 serving life sentences in Tongi Child Development Centre and in August 2008, there was one child under 15 serving a life sentence in Jessore Child Development Centre.19 It is not clear how the sentences of these children have been affected by the introduction of the Children Act 2013.
Bhutan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment does not appear to be a lawful sentence for an offence committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
It is not clear how life imprisonment is defined in Bhutanese law.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No child below the age of 10 may be held criminally liable for a criminal offence.20
Maximum penalties
The English translation of the Penal Code produced by the Royal Court of Justice states that children older than 10 can be sentenced to a minimum of half the sentence that would be applied to an adult.21 The State has reported, however, that this provision sets the maximum sentence for children older than 10 at half the sentence of an adult.22 CRIN has not been able to check original Dzongkha text to check the accuracy of the Court's translation.
The word “child” is not explicitly defined within the Penal Code in relation to sentencing, but in defining sexual offences against children, the term child is used to encompass people up to the age of 18.23
Offences are divided into categories under the Penal Code.24 Several offences carry mandatory sentences of life imprisonment, namely murder, treason, terrorism, offences against Ku, Sung, Thuk-ten and Zung (these are offences against cultural and national heritage related to removing religious and cultural artefacts); and offences of the illegal manufacturing of weapons of mass destruction.25 It is not clear how half of such a sentence would be calculated in setting the maximum term for a child.
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment does not appear to be a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Brunei Darussalam
The initial provisions of the Syariah Penal Code Order came into force on 1 May 2014. If fully implemented, the Code would drastically amend sentencing provisions for child offenders, including by introducing the death penalty, amputation, whipping and flogging for Syariah offences committed by children. At the time of writing, only provisions introducing imprisonment and fines for Syariah offences had come into force. The Sultan of Brunei announced in April 2014 that the remaining provisions will be gradually introduced over the next three years.26
To clarify potential changes to be brought into force under the new code, the reforms are dealt with separately below. CRIN's Inhuman Sentencing Campaign Report for Brunei Darussalam gives further information on the changes.27
Life imprisonment
Persons under the age of 18 may be sentenced to detention at the pleasure of His Majesty,28 a sentence that may last for the natural life of the sentenced person.
Meaning of life imprisonment
Life sentences can last for the entire natural life of a sentenced person.29
People sentenced to detention at the pleasure of His Majesty may be held indefinitely including for the rest of their natural lives. A person serving such a sentence may be released at any time subject to conditions, but may be recalled to prison at any time.30
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No one can be held criminally responsible for an offence committed while under the age of 7.31 Children older than 7 but younger than 12 can only be held criminally responsible where they have sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of their actions at the time of the offence.32
The Syariah Penal Code
No child can be held criminally responsible where he or she is not mumaiyiz (able to differentiate the matter).33 Children who are able to differentiate the matter but who have not reached puberty (are not baligh), cannot be sentenced to hadd or qisas punishments.34
Maximum penalties
Life sentences
No person may be sentenced to death for an offence committed while under the age of 18, but where such a person would be liable to be sentenced to death, he or she must be sentenced to be detained “during the pleasure of His Majesty”.35 People so detained may be held indefinitely including for the rest of their natural lives. A person serving such a sentence may be released at any time subject to conditions, but may be recalled to prison at any time.36
Children aged 14 to 18 cannot be “detained” unless “of so unruly a character that he or she cannot be detained in a place of detention or an approved school”37
Children under the age of 14 cannot be sentenced to imprisonment.38
Syariah Penal Code Order
The Syariah Penal Code was enacted in October 2013 and the first of its provisions came into force on 1 May 2014. Phase one of the reforms permits fines and imprisonment for a number of offences under Syariah law, but if fully implemented, the Code would introduce the death penalty, flogging, whipping and amputation for offences committed while under the age of 18.39
The maximum term of imprisonment authorised by the Syariah Penal Code is 30 years for zina al-jabar (rape) committed while over 15 years of age.40
Number of children serving life imprisonment
No official statistics could be located indicating how many people are detained under sentences of detention at the pleasure of His Majesty.
Cambodia
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful penalty for persons under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
The definition of life imprisonment in Cambodian law could not be located.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children as young as 14 can be convicted of a criminal offence “if the circumstances of the offence or the personality of the minor justify doing so.” However; children younger than 14 can be subjected to measures of “surveillance, education, protection and assistance”.41
Maximum penalties
For crimes committed between the ages of 14 and 18, the maximum penalty is half that of the corresponding sentence for an adult. Where the maximum penalty for an adult would be life imprisonment, the maximum sentence would be no more than 20 years' imprisonment.42 Children cannot, therefore, be sentenced to more than 20 years' imprisonment.
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
China
Mainland China
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment remains a lawful sentence for persons under the age of 18 at the time of committing an offence. Chinese law permits a form of life imprisonment that may extend to life without parole.
Meaning of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment without parole is possible under Chinese law, as parole is not permitted for recidivists or those who have been convicted to life imprisonment for violent crimes.43 Other people sentenced to life imprisonment may be released on parole if they have served not less than 10 years in prison, have observed prison rules conscientiously, accepted education and reform, shown true repentance and will no longer cause harm to society after parole.44
The State has reported, however, that despite the provisions prohibiting parole, the sentences of people serving life imprisonment may be commuted to fixed terms.45
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Generally, people can be held criminally responsible from the age of 16, but children can be held criminally responsible for intentional homicide, intentionally hurting another person so as to cause serious injury of death, rape, robbery, drug-trafficking, arson, explosion or poisoning from the age of 14.46
The Laodong jiouyang system of labour camps provided for a system of administrative detention without official charge, trial or judicial review. The relevant regulatory framework indicates that this form of detention had been used for children as young as 11.47 In December 2013, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress formally approved reforms to abolish the labour camp system.48
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment is possible for people who were aged 14 to 18 at the time they committed an offence, if that offence is punishable with life imprisonment if committed by an adult.49 Life imprisonment is a lawful sentence for large numbers of offences under Chinese law.50
Number of children serving life imprisonment
No statistics could be found on the number of people serving life imprisonment in China for an offence committed while under the age of 18. During the State's 2013 review by the Committee on the Rights of the Child, China provided figures indicating that between 2010 and 2012, 19375 children were sentenced to more than five years' imprisonment51 but no more specific figures could be identified.
Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a lawful penalty for offences committed by persons under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
When imposing a discretionary life sentence, a judge must specify a minimum term of imprisonment that the convicted person must serve.52
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No one may be held criminally responsible for an action carried out while under the age of 10.53
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment. Juvenile courts do not have jurisdiction to hear homicide cases.54 The penalty for murder is life imprisonment, but where the person convicted of murder was under 18 years of age at the time of the offence, the court has discretion as to whether to sentence him or her to life or to a shorter fixed term.55
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Statistics could not be located on the number of people serving life imprisonment for an offence committed while under the age of 18, though a small number of cases could be identified in which children had been so sentenced. The Court of Appeal of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region considered four such sentences in a 2001 judgment.56
Macau Special Autonomous Region
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence in Macau, regardless of age.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Under the Penal Code, persons under the age of 16 are “exempt from punishment”.57 However the minimum age of criminal responsibility is effective set at 12 by Law No. 2/2007, which sets out the scheme of “child protection education of young offenders”.58
Maximum penalties
Children aged 16 to 18. Children aged 16 to 18 are sentenced as adults under the Penal Code. The maximum term of imprisonment that can be applied is 30 years in exceptional circumstances.59
Children aged 12 – 16. Children aged 12 to 16 are sentenced to educational and protective measures, though these measures include deprivation of liberty. A child can be detained in a Young Offenders Institution as a sentence for an offence carrying a maximum penalty of imprisonment for more than 3 years or for repeat offences punishable by imprisonment.60
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful penalty for any offence regardless of age.
India
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is lawful in all States and the Union Territories of India with the exception of Jammu and Kashmir.61 In Jammu and Kashmir life imprisonment was prohibited in 2013.62
Meaning of life imprisonment
A person serving life imprisonment for an offence for which the death penalty is a lawful penalty or who has benefited from a commutation of a death sentence may not be released from prison unless he or she has served at least 14 years' imprisonment.63 For life sentences which do not fall within this category, release may be ordered at an earlier date.64
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No person can be held criminally responsible for an act committed while he or she was under the age of seven65 and no person can be held criminally responsible for an act committed while under 12 while of “immature understanding”. A child will be considered to be of “immature understanding” when he or she “has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of his conduct on that occasion.”66
Maximum penalties
Throughout India, caps are set on the terms of detention to which children may be sentenced which vary according to the age of the child. Children aged 17 generally may not be sentenced to more than three years detention in a “special home”, while younger children may be detained until they cease to be a juvenile.67
In December 2015, the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 was enacted allowing children aged 16 or older to be sentenced as adults for "heinous offences".68 This provision has in effect reintroduced life imprisonment as a penalty for offences committed by children.69
Number of children serving life imprisonment
In most of India, life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18. No evidence could be found of a child offender being sentenced to life imprisonment in Jammu and Kashmir.
Indonesia
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited as a penalty for offences committed while a child.74 For the purposes of the law, a child is defined as an unmarried person under the age of 18.75
Meaning of life imprisonment
A person sentenced to imprisonment may be released after serving two-thirds of his or her term of imprisonment.76 It is not clear what the minimum period to be served would be for a life sentence.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
People can be held criminally responsible for their actions from the age of 8.77 As of 2012, a bill that would raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility was under consideration, but at the time of writing, it had not been enacted.78
Maximum penalties
Children convicted of an offence carrying the death penalty or a sentence of life imprisonment must be sentenced to a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.79
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
It is not clear how life imprisonment sentences are defined in Iranian law.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
The Civil Code defines puberty as 15 lunar years for boys, 9 lunar years for girls80 (i.e. age 14 years and 7 months for boys and 8 years an 9 months for girls).81
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment
The Islamic Penal Code 1991 prescribed life imprisonment for theft (third offence) and for ordering or forcing another person to commit murder.82 These provisions have been retained by the reforms of the Islamic Penal Code 2013, though the relevant provisions have been renumbered.83
Death penalty
The death penalty remains lawful for persons under the age of 18 at the time an offence was committed.84
Number of children serving life imprisonment
CRIN has been unable to determine how many children have been subjected to life imprisonment in Iran.
Iraq
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
Sentences of life imprisonment generally require a person to be imprisoned for 20 years in a penal institution.85 However, the CPA Order 31 introduced sentences of “life which means life” which appear to exclude the possibility of parole.86
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children can be held criminally responsible for offences committed from the age of 9.87
Maximum sentences
A child aged 15 to 18 (“juvenile” under the Iraqi Penal Code) cannot be sentenced to more than 15 years' imprisonment for an offence punishable by death or life imprisonment.88
A person aged 9 to 15 at the time of committing an offence cannot be sentenced to more than 5 years' imprisonment for a felony punishable by death or life imprisonment. For felonies punishable by a fixed term of imprisonment, such a person can be sentenced to imprisonment for between 1 and 4 years89
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Israel
The majority of this profile addresses Israeli law as it applies in the territory of Israel. However, information on Israeli military jurisdiction over the West Bank has also been included as the law is administered under the authority of Israel.
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment remains a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18 under civilian and military law.
Meaning of life imprisonment
The District Court of Tel-Aviv considered the imposition of life imprisonment in light of Article 37(a) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 2007 and found that such sentences for child offenders did not violate the Convention as release is permitted.90 However, a study conducted by the University of San Francisco indicated that life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is lawful under Israeli law,91 but did not address whether such a sentence could be applied to child offenders. CRIN has not been able to check the original legislation to clarify this disagreement.
Where an offence is punishable by life imprisonment, but not mandatory life imprisonment, the Court may not sentence a person to serve more than twenty years' imprisonment.92
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No person can be held criminally responsible for an act committed while under the age of 12.93
Under Israeli military law applied in the West Bank, no person under the age of 12 can be arrested or prosecuted in a military court.94
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment
Courts may impose life imprisonment for crimes committed while under 18 for any offence for which life imprisonment is a lawful penalty under the Penal Law. A number of criminal offences carry the sentence of life imprisonment under the Israeli Penal Law, including treason, causing war, assistance to enemy in war, mutiny with intent to impair national security, aggravated espionage, damage to foreign relations, oath to commit a grave offence, rescue of a person charged or convicted of an offence for which the penalty is death or life imprisonment, murder and abduction from custody.95
When sentencing a person for a crime committed while a child, however, the Court is not under an obligation to impose life imprisonment, even when the Penal Law states that the penalty is mandatory.96
Under the Israeli military jurisdiction, children aged 12 and 13 can be imprisoned for up to six months.97 Children aged 14 and 15 can be sentenced for up to 12 months, unless the offence carries a maximum penalty of 5 years or more, in which case the maximum penalty is the same as that for an adult.98
Children aged 16 or older, or those aged 14 or older who have been convicted of an offence punishable by more than five years may be sentenced to the same penalties as an adult. Under military law, several offences are punishable by life imprisonment.99
Number of children serving life imprisonment
CRIN has been unable to locate statistics on the number of people serving life imprisonment for an offence committed while under the age of 18. As of February 2001, the State reported that three people had been sentenced to life imprisonment for offences committed while under the age of 18,100 though since then, a number of further people have challenged the legality of sentences of life imprisonment for offences committed while under the age of 18. In January 2006, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against a 25 year sentence by a young man who was 17 when he murdered his father. In a subsequent case, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by a young man who was sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder committed when he was 17, holding that it did not violate the Youth Law or the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty.101
Japan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a mandatory sentence for any offence for which a person under the age of 18 would otherwise be liable to face the death penalty.102
Meaning of life imprisonment
A person aged over 20 when sentenced to life imprisonment may be released on parole after serving a minimum of 10 years' imprisonment. A person who was under the age of 20 when sentenced to life imprisonment may be released on parole after serving 7 years' imprisonment.103 This minimum period is increased to 10 years where a person was under 20 years of age at the time of committing an offence, but was sentenced to life imprisonment in lieu of the death penalty.104
If a juvenile has been on parole from a life sentence for 10 years and no further restriction has been applied, then that person is deemed to have served the sentence.105 Parole may be revoked if, while on parole, a person commits a further offence or when a person fails to observe the conditions of parole.106
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
The Penal Code asserts that no one can be punished under the criminal law for any act carried out while under the age of 14.107 However, amendments made to the Juvenile Act in 2007 permitted the Family Courts to commit children as young as 11 to Juvenile Training Schools under the administration of the Ministry of Justice Correction Bureau.108
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment must be imposed on any person under the age of 18 convicted of an offence for which an adult could be sentenced to death.109
Where a person under the age of 18 would be eligible for a life sentence, he or she may be sentenced to a fixed term of between 10 and 15 years instead.110
Number of children serving life imprisonment
CRIN has not been able to locate statistics on the number of persons serving life sentences for an offence committed while under the age of 18.
Jordan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited for offences committed while under the age of 18.111
Meaning of life imprisonment
It is not clear how life imprisonment is defined in national legislation.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Persons under the age of 12 cannt be held criminally responsible.112
Maximum penalties
If a person under the age of 18 is convicted of a crime carrying the death sentence for an adult, they must be sentenced to between three and eight years’ imprisonment.113
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.114
Kazakhstan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited for people who were under the age of 18 at the time they committed an offence.115
Meaning of life imprisonment
A person serving life imprisonment may be released on parole of if he or she has served a minimum of 25 years in prison and if a court recognises that he or she “does not need subsequent endurance of that punishment”.116
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
A person can be held criminally liable for any offence committed while over the age of 16.117 For offences specifically listed in the criminal code children can be held criminally responsible from the age of 14. Generally speaking the lower age limit only applies to more serious offences involving violence, though vandalism and deliberate damage to transport vehicles or roads are also included on the list of offences for which a lower minimum age of criminal responsibility is applied.118
Where a juvenile offender has reached either of these ages for criminal liability, but while committing the crime of “a lesser or medium gravity”, he or she was not aware of the nature or social danger of his acts as a result of “mental retardation”, he or she will not be held liable.119
Maximum penalties
Generally, a person convicted of a crime committed while under the age of 18 cannot be sentenced to more than 10 years' imprisonment. For murder committed in aggravated circumstances or as a cumulative sentence for a number of crimes, 12 years is the maximum sentence of imprisonment.120
Anyone who was under the age of 18 at the time of being sentenced to deprivation of liberty is sent to an “educational colony” either under a general or strict regime.
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of
Legal information on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is extremely limited. This section is based on the limited information that was available.
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment, specifically life reform through labour, is a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
A life sentence of “reform through labour” is a sentence requiring detention in a prison labour camp where the sentenced person is required to engage in labour.121 A person serving such a term can be released if he or she “is deemed to have genuinely repented of his or her crime and is faithful in reforming himself or herself, and the purpose of the reformative education is deemed to have been achieved”. Release cannot occur before the person has served 15 years in detention.122
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No person may be held criminally responsible for an offence committed while under the age of 14.123
Maximum penalties
Life of reform through labour
The Criminal Law sets out the punishments that can be applied for criminal offences, including death and a life-term through labour.124 Of the types of punishment, the death penalty is the only sentence which is explicitly prohibited for a person under the age of 18 at the time of the offence.125
Youth is considered a mitigation under the Criminal Law,126 which permits, but does not require, the court to reduce a sentence by up to a half, though the court cannot generally sentence a person to less than the minimum term for an offence.127 There is a broadly defined exception to this rule, however, which permits courts to impose lighter penalties in “special cases [in which] the court may deem it appropriate to impose a lighter penalty than the minimum limit”128
A large number of offences are punishable with a life term of reform through labour, including conspiracy to subvert the state, terrorism, treason against the Nation, intentional destruction of State property, counterfeiting currency, smuggling and illegal trafficking of drugs, murder, grave taking of personal property and robbery of personal property129
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Population figures of the DPRK's prison camps are incredibly difficult to measure. The DPRK officially denies the existence of the camps, but based on testimonies of former guards, inmates and neighbours as well as satellite imagery, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has estimated that there are between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners in the four largest political prison camps.130 It is not possible to estimate what proportion of this population or the broader population of prison camps is made up of child offenders, much less what form of sentence they are serving.
Korea, Republic of
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited for anyone who was under the age of 18 at the time they committed an offence.131
Meaning of life imprisonment
A person serving a life sentence must serve at least 10 years in prison before being considered for parole.132
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No one can be punished for an offence committed while under the age of 14.133 Children can be subject to protection measures from the age of 12, which include placement in child welfare institutions, juvenile protection institutions and juvenile training schools or reformatories.134
Maximum penalties
For children aged 14 or older, life sentences and the death penalty must be reduced to a fixed term of 15 years' imprisonment for anyone who was under the age of 18 at the time they committed the relevant offence.135 For offences that do not carry a life sentence or the death penalty for an adult, children aged 14 or over at the time the offence was committed cannot be sentenced to more than 10 years' imprisonment.136
Children aged 10 to 14 who have committed what would be a criminal offence for an older child, can be subject to terms in child welfare institutions, juvenile protections institutions and juvenile training schools or reformatories.
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful penalty for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Kuwait
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited for persons under the age of 18.137
Meaning of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is defined as detention of a convicted person for the remainder of his or her life. The prosecutor can order the release of a person sentenced to life imprisonment after the convicted person has served 20 years' imprisonment.138
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Persons under the age of seven cannot be held criminally responsible.139 Children aged seven to 15 who commit unlawful acts may be subject to penalties under the Juvenile Act, including detention in an institution.140
Maximum penalties
A person who was under the age of 18 at the time of an offence can be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment.141
Number of serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful penalty for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Kyrgyzstan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited for persons under the age of 18 at the time the relevant offence was committed.142
Meaning of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment may be replaced to a fixed term of of 30 years and may only be applied for persons over the age of 18 for murder and terrorism related offences.143
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children aged 16 at the time of an alleged offence may be held criminally liable for any offence.144 For a number of offences specifically listed in the Criminal Code, children can be held criminally responsible from the age of 14.145
Maximum penalties
Juvenile offenders – defined as those under the age of 18 at the time of committing an offence – can be sentenced to a maximum of 15 years' imprisonment for offences classified as “special severe crimes”. For “severe crimes” the maximum penalty is five years' imprisonment and for “less severe crimes” three years' imprisonment. The maximum term of 15 years' imprisonment also applies to any cumulative sentence.146
Number of children in detention
Life imprisonment is not a lawful penalty for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Laos, People's Democratic Republic of
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment for people under the age of 18 is explicitly prohibited.147
Meaning of life imprisonment
A person convicted to life imprisonment must serve at least 15 year in prison before being considered for conditional release. Where a person serving a life sentence is released with conditions and they do not breach the conditions of their release within five years, the remaining sentence is lifted.148
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No one can be held criminally responsible for an action carried out while under the age of 15.149
Maximum penalties
With the exception of life imprisonment, children aged 15 to 18 may be sentenced to the same penalties as adults.150 Deprivation of liberty may be imposed for a period from three months to 20 years' imprisonment.151
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Lebanon
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
It is not clear how life imprisonment is defined in Lebanese law.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children under the age of seven cannot be held criminally responsible.152
Maximum penalties
Children under the age of 18 at the time of committing an offence can be sentenced to imprisonment for no more than 15 years for felonies for which an adult would be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.153
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Malaysia
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
Imprisonment for life is defined in the Penal Code as “imprisonment until the death of the person on who it is imposed”, though the provision does not exclude the possibility of parole, pardon, reprieve or respite as permitted by law.154 Under the Prisons Act, the Commissioner General may order the release of any prisoner on licence.155 It is not clear whether there is a minimum period to be served for those subject to a life sentence.
In calculating fractions of terms of imprisonment, life imprisonment is considered equivalent to 20 years.156
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Malaysia has a dual system of secular and Islamic law, which has resulted in a number of different minimum ages of responsibility depending on which branch of the law is applicable.
- Under the Penal Code, a person can be held criminally responsible from the age of 10.157
- Under the Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997, Muslim children can be held criminally responsible from the onset of puberty.158
- Offences under the Internal Security Act can be prosecuted regardless of age.159
Maximum penalties
Death penalty
The death penalty is lawful for persons under 18 at the time of the offence under the Essential (Security Cases) Regulations 1975.160 The regulations state in article 3: “(3)Where a person is accused of or charged with a security offence, he shall, regardless of his age, be dealt with and tried in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations and the Juvenile Courts Act, 1948, shall not apply to such cases.”161 This applies to offences under the Internal Security Act 1960,162 which prescribes the death penalty for offences relating to firearms, ammunition and explosives and to the disruption of public security, public order and terrorism.163 The primacy of the Essential (Security Cases) Regulations 1975 was challenged and upheld before the Federal Court in 1978.164
Detention during the pleasure of Yang di-Pertuan Agong or Yang di-Pertua Negeri
Any person under the age of 18 convicted of committing a crime for which he or she could be sentenced to death, must instead be sentenced to detention during the pleasure of Yang di-Pertuan Agong, if the offence was committed in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur or the Federal Territory of Labuan; or during the pleasure of the rule of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri if the offence was committed in the State.165
Number of children serving life imprisonment
CRIN has not been able to locate statistics on the number of persons sentenced to life imprisonment sentence for an offence committed while under the age of 18.
Maldives
The Penal Code 2014 came into force in 2014, but at the time of writing this legislation was not available in English. This section does not take account of the 2014 Code.
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.166
Meaning of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence under the Penal Code 2014, which sets 25 years as the maximum period of imprisonment.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
The Penal Code 2014 does not set a clear minimum age of criminal responsibility, but frames the issue using the “excuse” of lack of maturity. A person is “excused” of a criminal offence if he or she lacks the maturity of an adult and as a result lacks lacks the capacity to accurately perceive the physical consequences of his or her conduct; to appreciate the wrongfulness of his or her conduct; or to control his or her conduct.167 People under the age of 15 are conclusively presumed to be excused of any criminal offence with which he or she is accused.168 A person aged 15 to 18 is presumed to be excused of any criminal offence unless the prosecution rebut the presumption of immaturity.169 A person who was under the age of 18 at the time of an alleged offence and meets the requirements of this “excuse” must be transferred to the Juvenile Court, which has exclusive jurisdiction in any subsequent proceedings.170
However; this restriction does not apply to offences punishable under Sharia law or for violent felony offences, for which the penalty is postponed until the child reaches the age of 18.171 Under the Regulation on Conducting Trials, Investigations and Sentencing Fairly for Offences Committed by Minors 2006, children can be held criminally responsible from puberty for the offences of apostasy, revolution against the state, fornication, falsely accusing a person of fornication, consumption of alcohol, unlawful intentional killing and other offences relating to homicide.172
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful penalty under Maldivian law. The Penal Code classifies criminal offences as felonies (classes one to five) and misdemeanours (classes one to three). For the most serious category of offence, class one felonies, the maximum penalty is death or imprisonment for not more than 25 years.173
Death penalty
The death penalty is a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18. For more information on the legality and practice of this sentence, see CRIN's campaign report on inhuman sentencing in the Maldives.174
Number of children serving life imprisonment
CRIN has been unable to obtain statistical information relating to the sentencing people to life imprisonment for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Mongolia
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence regardless of age under Mongolian criminal law. The Penal Code sets a maximum sentence of imprisonment for an adult at 25 years,175 though where a death sentence is commuted to a term of imprisonment, that term must be 30 years.176
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children can be held criminally responsible for all offences from the age of 16 and for specifically named offences from the age of 14.177
Maximum sentences
Children who were under 16 years old at the time they committed an offence cannot be sentenced to more than 15 years' imprisonment.178 This limit does not apply to children aged 16 or over, so it appears that older children may be sentenced to up to 30 years' imprisonment.
The death penalty still exists in the Mongolian Penal Code, but Mongolia maintains policy of routinely commuting all death sentences to imprisonment for 30 years.179
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence regardless of age.
Myanmar
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited for “children”180 and “youths”.181 A child is defined as a person under the age of 16 and a youth as a person aged 16 to 18.182
Meaning of life imprisonment
When calculating fractions of terms of punishment, transportation for life (life imprisonment), is calculated as equivalent to transportation for 20 years.183
The President is empowered to suspend or remit the whole or any part of a punishment with or without conditions.184 It is not clear how long people serving a life sentence serve in practice before being considered for release.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No person can be held criminally responsible for an offence carried out while under the age of seven.185 Children aged seven to 12 may only be held criminally responsible where they have “attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences” of their conduct.186
Maximum sentences
Children aged 16 to 18 - imprisonment
Where a sentence of imprisonment is passed on a “youth” (a person older than 16 but younger than 18), the term cannot exceed 10 years.187
Children under the age of 16 - imprisonment
A child under the age of 16 can only be sentenced to imprisonment for an offence punishable with death or transportation for life (life imprisonment) or where the child is “of so unruly or depraved a character or [is] absolutely uncontrollable”.188 The maximum term of imprisonment in such circumstances is seven years.
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Nepal
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment appears to be lawful for child offenders aged 16 or older.
Meaning of life imprisonment
It is not clear how long people serving life imprisonment in Nepal serve in practice, though the President may grant pardons and suspend, commute or remit any sentence on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.189
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
The Children's Act provides that no child can be punished for a criminal act if he or she was under 10 years old at the time of the offence.190 Children aged 10 years to 13 years inclusive, can only be given a warning for offences that carry a maximum penalty of a fine.191
However, under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Ordinance, no minimum age of responsibility is set for certain offences.192
Maximum penalties
Children who are older than 10, but younger than 14 at the time that they committed an offence can be sentenced to a maximum term of imprisonment of six months.193
Children older than 14 but younger than 16 are sentenced with half of the penalty that would be imposed on a person who has reached the age of maturity.194
For the purposes of the Children's Act, a child is defined as a person under the age of 16, so children aged 16 to 18 are presumably tried as adults. If children of this age can be sentenced to full adult penalties, then children can be sentenced to life imprisonment, as life imprisonment is a lawful sentence for number of offences.
Number of children serving life imprisonment
CRIN has not been able to locate statistical information on the number of children serving life imprisonment for an offence committed while under the age of 18.
Oman
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
A sentence of life imprisonment may be suspended after a minimum term of 20 years' imprisonment has been served if the convicted person is deemed to be reformed. In these circumstances, the penalty can be suspended by Royal Decree ordering the sentenced person to pay a warrant, be under police control for the remainder of the sentence and to pay compensation due to the injured party prior to release.195
Any person sentenced to life imprisonment is permanently deprived of his or her civil rights.196
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No one can be subject to criminal penalties for an offence committed while under the age of nine. Where the age of a suspect is not established “it shall be evaluated by the judge”.197
Maximum penalties
Children aged 15 to 18
A child older than 15 but younger than 18 at the time of committing an offence cannot be sentenced to imprisonment for more than 10 years if the offence is a felony punishable by death or life imprisonment.198
Children aged 13 to 15
A child older than 13 but younger than 15 at the time of committing an offence cannot be sentenced to imprisonment for more than five years if the offence is punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment.199
Children aged nine to 13
Imprisonment and fines are explicitly prohibited as penalties for offences committed by a child older than nine but younger than 13. Children in this age group can, however, be confined in “a reforming establishment” as determined by the judge for a period up to the child's 18th birthday.200
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Pakistan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
Where a person is sentenced to life imprisonment, the responsible provincial government is empowered to commute the sentence to a fixed term not exceeding 14 years.201 When calculating fractions of terms of punishment, life imprisonment is considered equal to imprisonment for 25 years.202
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Under the Penal Code, no one can be held criminally responsible for an offence carried out while under the age of seven.203 Children older than seven and younger than twelve can only be punished under the Penal Code where they have “attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of [his or her] conduct on that occasion”.204
However; under the Hudood Ordinances, children are liable for punishments on reaching puberty.205 Other laws do not specify a minimum age.206 The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) defines a child as a person under 18 at the time of committing an offence.207
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment
The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance does not prohibit life imprisonment. It allows for a child to be sent to a borstal institution until the age of 18 or for the period of imprisonment to be reduced,208 but these are optional alternatives to the penalties specified in the Penal Code and the court may still impose life imprisonment.209 The Penal Code punishes a number of crimes with life imprisonment;210 it is reckoned as equivalent to imprisonment for 25 years.211 The sentence may be commuted to imprisonment for a term up to 14 years.212 Children may also be sentenced to life imprisonment under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act213 and, presumably, the Anti-Terrorism Act.
In Sindh province, the Sindh Children Act states that child offenders (under 16) should not be sentenced to imprisonment but also states that the Court may in certain circumstances “order the offender to be kept in safe custody in such place or manner as it thinks fit”.214 The federal Reformatory Schools Act 1897 provides for boys aged under 15 at the time of conviction of an offence punishable with life imprisonment to be sent to reformatory schools for between three and seven years, but the Act has not been implemented.215
Punishment of life imprisonment was removed from the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance and the Offence of Qazf (Enforcement of Hadd) Ordinance in 2006.216 However, a person who has reached puberty may be sentenced to life imprisonment under the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order217 and the Offences Against Property (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance.218
There is no provision for life imprisonment in the Frontier Crimes Regulation in force in FATA.
Death penalty
The death penalty may be a lawful penalty for children under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Control of Narcotic Substances Act and people may be sentenced to death for Hadd offences committed while under the age of 18.219
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Shortly after the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance was promulgated, the President of Pakistan issued a Presidential Commutation Order (17 December 2001) which commuted the death sentences of juvenile offenders to life imprisonment, though it excluded juvenile offenders sentenced for qisas or hadd crimes.220 As of 2009 the sentences where age at the time of the offence had not been determined were still in the appeal courts.221
In July 2002, Punjab’s Law Minister Rana Ijaz Ahmad Khan was reported as affirming that the death sentences of 74 juvenile delinquents had been converted to life imprisonment.222 According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in July 2003 there were 300 cases pending in Punjab in which the ages of children sentenced to death were contested.223 In May 2004, the federal minister of the Interior stated that there were 13 juveniles under sentence of death – four held in Punjab, seven in NWFP, two in Balochistan, and none in Sindh province.224 By 2005, most death sentences imposed before 2000 had been commuted, but child offenders continued to be sentenced to death.225 In March 2006, the authorities of Mach Central Jail acknowledged holding two child offenders sentenced to death.226
In May 2005, the District & Session Judge Ghokti inflicted the death penalty upon Ateeq Ahmed son of Muhammad Qasim Memon, for allegedly committing murder in February 1999. The Court failed to investigate the defendant’s plea of juvenility by referring to a medical board.227 On appeal, the Sindh High Court referred the matter to a medical board in April 2006, and it was deduced that Ateeq was aged only 12 or 13 at the time of the offence. As at April 2011, Ateeq is in the Central Prison Sukkar-I and the case is still pending in the High Court.
On 21 June 2008, the Prime Minister announced that all death sentences (not only those of juvenile offenders) would be commuted to life imprisonment, though this appears not to have happened and in November President Zardari issued an ordinance that extended the death penalty to cyber crimes causing death.228 In September 2009, President Zardari called on provincial governments to submit recommendations on commuting the death penalty to prison terms of 24 to 30 years.229
Death penalty appeals by child offenders have been dismissed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan when age was not recorded at the time of original trial.230 On 4 August 2010, the Supreme Court confirmed the death penalty in a case of murder committed at the age of 17 on the grounds that the issue of age was not raised at the original trial or before the High Court.231 In addition, the Supreme Court remarked that the “Learned Advocate Supreme Court on behalf of the appellant has laid much stress on the factum of ‘tender age’ in oblivion of the fact that the tender age itself would not mean that an accused should not be awarded the death penalty.”
In June 2010, SPARC232 representative Abdullah Khoso met with two prisoners in Mach Jail, Balochistan, who were sentenced to death. Mewal Shah, now 20, was sentenced to death by the Anti-Terrorism Court in Mastung. After four years in solitary confinement his sentence was commuted by the High Court in Balochistan to 25 years rigorous imprisonment (see below). He was just 13 at the time of the offence. Sarfaraz was 16 or 17 at the time of a murder for which he was sentenced to death in 2009. His appeal is pending in Balochistan High Court.233
In January 2011, SPARC representatives met three juveniles in Mach Jail under sentence of death for murder. Bhai Khan son of Shah Mohammad Chandio (now 18 years old) was sentenced to death by District & Sessions Judge Dera Allah Yar. Naseerullah son of Rehan Longov (now 17 years old) was sentenced to death in March 2010. Zahoor Ahmed son of Sajawal Jakhrani (now 17 years old) was sentenced to death in March 2010 by the District & Sessions Judge Dera Allah Yar. As at April 2011, the appeals of all three boys are pending in Balochistan High Court.
Some death sentences of child offenders have reportedly been carried out, including one in 2001 (aged 13 at the time of the offence),234 one in 2006 (aged 16 at the time of the offence)235 and one in 2007 (aged about 15 at the time of the offence).236
Prison terms imposed on children are often severe even when imprisonment is not ostensibly for life.237 In 2000, a child was reportedly sentenced by a court in Lahore to 273 years for aiding and abetting murder and causing the disappearance of the bodies of murder victims – he was 9 or 10 at the time of the alleged offence; his co-accused was 11 or 12 at the time of the offence and was sentenced to 63 years.238 An Anti-Terrorist Court in Multan sentenced a juvenile to 492 years' imprisonment.239
Palestine, Occupied Territories
West Bank
The justice systems of the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military overlap in the West Bank. Israeli authorities primarily prosecute Palestinian children in the West Bank under Military Order 1651, while the Palestinian Authority prosecutes children under a the Jordanian Penal Code 1960 as amended by more recent Palestinian legislation.
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18 under the justice system of the Palestinian Authority, though it is lawful from the age of 14 under Israeli military law.
Meaning of life imprisonment
It is not clear how life imprisonment is defined in the West Bank.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children under Palestinian criminal law can be held criminally responsible from the age of nine, though this standard would be raised to 12 if the Draft Juvenile Protection Act entered into force.240 The Jordanian Juvenile Reform Act sets the minimum age of criminal responsibility at nine years.241
Under Israeli military law as it applies to child offenders, no person under the age of 12 can be arrested or prosecuted in a military court.242
Maximum penalties
No person aged nine to 13 can be sentenced to imprisonment under the criminal jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. Life imprisonment is not explicitly addressed under the Reformation of Juveniles Law, though the Law provides that a person under 18 cannot be sentenced to detention of more than 15 years for an offence punishable with hard labour or capital punishment.243
Under the Israeli military jurisdiction, children aged 12 and 13 can be imprisoned for up to six months.244 Children aged 14 and 15 can be sentenced for up to 12 months, unless the offence carries a maximum penalty of 5 years or more, in which case the maximum penalty is the same as that for an adult.245 Children aged 16 or older, or those aged 14 or older who have been convicted of an offence punishable by more than five years may be sentenced to the same penalties as an adult. Under the military law, several offences are punishable by life imprisonment.246
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Gaza
There was insufficient information on the juvenile justice system in Gaza to complete a country profile, though the State has reported that life imprisonment is not a lawful penalty for any offence committed while under the age of 18.247
Philippines
Note: at the time of writing, the Philippines had published a draft Penal Code, though the Code had not entered into force.
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment without the possibility of release is explicitly prohibited for child offenders248 and limits on the sentencing of child offenders effectively prohibit other forms of life sentence for persons under the age of 18 at the time of committing a criminal offence.
Meaning of life imprisonment
A person serving life imprisonment must be pardoned after serving 30 years unless “such person by reason of his conduct or some other serious cause shall be considered by the Chief Executive as unworthy of pardon.”249
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No one can be held criminally responsible for an act carried out while under the age of 15. Children aged older than 15 but younger than 18 can only be held criminally responsible where they have “acted with discernment”.250
Several Bills were introduced between 2006 and 2013251 with a view to lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility, but the relevant provisions did not appear in the version of the Act that entered into force. The draft Penal Code published in August 2014 included provisions that would reduce the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 13.252
Maximum penalties
Children aged 15 to 18
Children aged 15 to 18 who have acted with discernment are subject to the criminal procedure set out under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.253 Where a child is found guilty of an offence, the court must place the child under a suspended sentence.254 The suspended sentence can be carried out where the child has not fulfilled the disposition measures or where he or she has wilfully failed to comply with the conditions of the disposition or rehabilitation programme.255
If a child were to serve the sentence in full, the maximum penalty appears to be capped by the Penal Code at one degree less than that for an adult.256 The Penal Code provides a table to calculate the appropriate period,257 but as the death penalty is explicitly prohibited for child offenders,258 the maximum penalty would appear to be one degree less than life imprisonment (“reclusion perpetua”). In effect “reclusion temporal”, defined as detention for between 12 years and one day and 20 years, would be the maximum sentence for a person in this age group.259
Children aged 12 to 15
A child older than 12 but younger than 15 who has committed a serious offence260 is deemed a “neglected child” and must be placed in a special facility within the youth care faculty or “Bahay Pag-Asa” called the Intensive Juvenile Intervention and Support Centre.261
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Qatar
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a lawful sentence for a number of offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
Any person subject to a custodial penalty may be released under conditional release under the Law of Organizing Prisons.262 CRIN has not been able to access this legislation to determine how conditional release is applied to a person serving a life sentence.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children under the age of seven cannot be held criminally responsible.263
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment
Article 19 of the Juvenile Act states that juveniles under 16 convicted of an offence punishable with life imprisonment should be sentenced instead to imprisonment for 10 years. But persons aged 16 and 17 are liable to sentencing under the Criminal Code, which provides for life imprisonment or “perpetual imprisonment” for a number of crimes.264
Death penalty
The Penal Code and other criminal laws do not apply to Hudud or Qisas offences when the victim or the alleged offender is a Muslim. Article 1 of the Penal Code states: “Islamic Sharia provisions concerning the following crimes are applicable if the suspect or the victim is a Muslim: 1- The crimes such as theft, adultery, defamation, drinking alcohol and apostasy. 2- The crimes of retaliation and the blood money. Otherwise, the crimes and the punishments are determined due to this law and any other law.” Punishments for these offences under Shari’a law include capital punishment.265 The Criminal Procedure Code states that where the death penalty is ordered on a pregnant woman under Shari’a law it is delayed until after delivery in the case of a retaliatory or a hadd punishment and in the case of a ta’azir punishment adjourned for two years or commuted to life imprisonment.266
Number of children serving life imprisonment
The Government has indicated that between 2003 and 2007 no children were sentenced to death or life imprisonment267 but CRIN has been unable to verify this information.
Saudi Arabia
Life imprisonment
There is no explicit prohibition on life imprisonment for people who were under the age of 18 at the time they committed an offence.
Meaning of life imprisonment
CRIN has been unable to locate information on how life imprisonment is defined in Saudi Arabian law or on how conditional release or parole would be applied to a person serving a life sentence.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
The minimum age for criminal responsibility has reportedly been raised from 7 to 12, but reports are inconsistent and the rise would not apply to girls or in qisas cases..268 The Detention Regulation and the Juvenile Homes’ Regulation 1975 define a juvenile as below the age of 18. There are provisions for juvenile courts and the law states that juveniles must be tried “in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations”,269 but the law does not require all child offenders to be tried in the juvenile justice system or require judges to base their decisions on children’s age at the time of the offence. Judicial opinion on when a child can be tried as an adult varies widely and tends to be based on a child’s physical development.270
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment appears to be lawful as a punishment for child offenders. The Government has stated that minors may not be detained in a public prison and must be placed in supervised residential institutions.271 The law allows judges to reduce the period of time which children spend in supervised institutions “if they memorise the Holy Koran or improve their behaviour”.272 There is no explicit prohibition of life imprisonment for child offenders.
Death penalty
Persons convicted of offences committed under the age of 18 may lawfully be sentenced to death. The Government has stated that persons who have not attained majority in accordance with Islamic law are never subject to capital punishment. But judges have discretionary power to decide that a person has reached the age of majority before the age of 18 and to impose capital punishment.273
Number of children serving life imprisonment
CRIN has been unable to locate information on children sentenced to life imprisonment in Saudi Arabia.
Singapore
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a lawful sentence for a number of offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
In cases decided before the case of Abdul Nasir bin Amer Hamsah in 1997,274 life imprisonment amounted to a sentence of 20 years' imprisonment. Life imprisonment is now defined within the Criminal Procedure Code as “imprisonment for the duration of a person's natural life”.275 However, under, the annotations and commentary to the new Code suggest that a person serving a life sentence could be considered for parole before the Life Imprisonment Review Board after serving 20 years in prison.276
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children can be held criminally responsible for offences committed from the age of seven.277 Children aged older than seven but younger than 12 cannot be held criminally responsible unless they have “attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequence of [their] conduct on that occasion.”278
Maximum penalties
Life imprisonment and detention at the discretion of the executive
Any person who was under the age of 18 at the time he or she committed an offence punishable with death must be sentenced to life imprisonment in lieu of the death penalty.279
Where a person under the age of 18 has been convicted of murder, other culpable homicide or voluntarily causing grievous harm, the court is of the opinion that none of the other measures with which the case may be legally dealt with is suitable, the court may direct the person to be detained for such a period as it sees fit under the discretion of the relevant Minister. The minister may release the detained person on licence at any time.280
Number of children serving life imprisonment
CRIN has not been able to locate statistical information on the number of people sentenced to life imprisonment for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Sri Lanka
Life imprisonment
Detention during the President's pleasure is a lawful sentence for offences committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
Detention during the President's pleasure (DPP) is an indeterminate sentence that can last for the rest of a person's natural life. The responsible Minister may release a person serving such a sentence on licence, subject to whatever conditions the Minister directs. Where the licence is revoked, the sentenced person would be returned to detention.281
Where a child under the age of 16 is sentenced to DPP, the court may order that he or she be detained in a remand home.282
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No person can be held criminally responsible for an offence committed while under the age of 12. A child older than 12 but younger than 14 can only be held criminally responsible if he or she has “attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge of the nature and consequence of his [or her] conduct on that occasion.”283
Maximum penalties
Children aged 16 to 18
Children older than 16 are subject to adult sentences, with the exception of the death penalty. In lieu of death, a person under the age of 18 must be sentenced to detention during the President's pleasure.284
Children aged eight to 16
Where a person older than eight but younger than 16 is convicted of a specifically listed offence (termed “scheduled offences” within the relevant legislation) other than murder and the court is of the opinion that none of the other methods in which the case may legally be dealt with is suitable; then the court may sentence the child to an adult sentence, but “in such place and on such conditions as the Minister may direct”.285
Children under the age of 14
Imprisonment is prohibited as a sentence for children under the age of 14.286
Number of children serving life imprisonment
CRIN has not been able to locate statistical information on the number of people serving life imprisonment for an offence committed while under the age of 18.
Syria
Life imprisonment
Limits on the sentencing of children exclude the possibility of life imprisonment for persons under the age of 18.287
Meaning of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not defined in national legislation, nor are there clear provisions on parole for people serving life imprisonment.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
A child under the age of 10 at the time of an alleged criminal offence cannot be held criminally responsible.288
Maximum penalties
A person aged 15 to 18 may be sentenced to between six and 10 years' imprisonment for an offence that would be punishable with death for an adult.289
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Tajikistan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited as a sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.290
Meaning of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment means life imprisonment for the rest of a persons natural life. Parole is prohibited for persons serving life imprisonment.291
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children can be held criminally responsible for any offence from the age of 16,292 but from the age of 14 for certain named offences, usually involving violence.293 However, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed concern that children under the age of 14 “are frequently subjected to arrest, pretrial detention and deprivation of liberty in closed institutions.”294
Maximum penalties
Single offences
Children aged 14 to 16 may not be sentenced to more than 7 years' imprisonment and children aged 16 to 18 years may not be sentenced to more than 10 years' imprisonment.295
Cumulative sentences
When children are sentenced to an aggregate term for a number of offences, the maximum period of imprisonment may not exceed 10 years for children younger than 16 and 12 years for children aged 16 to 18.296
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Thailand
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited as a penalty for offences committed while under the age of 18.297
Meaning of life imprisonment
CRIN was unable to find how life imprisonment is defined in Thai law.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No person can be held criminally responsible for an offence committed while under the age of seven.298 A child older than seven but younger than 14 cannot be “punished”, but can be subjected a number of sentences including detention in a school or place of training and instruction.299
Maximum penalties
Where a person under the age of 18 is convicted of an offence punished with death or life imprisonment, a fifty year fixed term of imprisonment must be applied.300 A large number of offences carry sentences of life imprisonment or death, including those related to violence against royalty, terrorism offences, malfeasance in public office, malfeasance in judicial office, several sexual offences, altering currency, robbery causing grievous bodily harm.301
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18. It is not clear whether anyone is serving the maximum prison term of 50 years for an offence committed while a child.
Timor-Leste
Life imprisonment prohibited
Life imprisonment is prohibited regardless of age. Both the Constitution and the Penal Code include prohibitions on any deprivation of liberty or security measure of a perpetual nature or unlimited or indefinite duration.302
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children under 16 are exempt from criminal liability. For persons aged over 16 but younger than 21 criminal penalties are provided for in specific legislation.303
Maximum penalties
For persons aged over 16 but younger than 21 criminal penalties are provided for in specific legislation.304 As of November 2013, the State reported that it was in the process of enacting draft legislation to provide for sentencing that complies with this provision, but that in the meantime “sentencing of children is considered on a case by case basis”.305 It is not clear, therefore, what the maximum penalties are for child offenders.
A draft Educational and Guardianship of Children law is currently under consideration and would set out the measures that can be applied to children under the age of 16 who are in conflict with the law and the draft Children's Code and Special Penal Regime for Young Adults would clarify the forms of sentencing that could be applied to child offenders.
Number of children serving life imprisonment
In reporting to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2013, the State was unable to provide figures on the sentences to which children were subject or how long those detained served in detention. The Director of Prison Services indicated that 29 child offenders were held on remand or sentenced to detention between 2009 and 2012, but not further details were provided.306
Turkmenistan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
CRIN could not determine how life imprisonment is defined in Turkmenistan's criminal law.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Children are criminally liable for all offences from the age of 16 and for certain named offences from the age of 14.307
Maximum penalties
A person under the age of 18 at the time of a serious offence may be sentenced to imprisonment for no more than 15 years.308
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
United Arab Emirates
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for offence committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
It is not clear how life imprisonment is defined in the United Arab Emirates.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
The minimum age of criminal responsibility under criminal law is seven.309 Under Shari'a law, children typically become liable for Islamic punishments at the onset of puberty.310 The Emirates differ as to which tradition of Islamic jurisprudence is considered to be the main source of Shari'a rules, and this is reflected in the variation between the Emirates as to the age at which persons become liable for Islamic punishments.311
Maximum penalties
Death penalty
The death penalty is prohibited by the Juvenile Delinquents and Vagrancy Act for offences committed under the age of 18,312 but the Act does not apply to hadd or qisas offences, for which death is a penalty. The Shari'a Courts Act provides for Shari'a courts to try cases concerning offences allegedly committed by persons under the age of 18 and states that Shari'a punishments shall apply.313
Imprisonment
The maximum sentence of imprisonment for children aged 16 or 17 is detention for 10 years.314
According to available information, life imprisonment is not an offence under Shari'a law as applied in the UAE.
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Uzbekistan
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is explicitly prohibited for any offence committed while under the age of 18.315
Meaning of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is defined as “an exceptional measure of punishment which consists of perpetual isolation of a convict from society by placement in a penal colony under a special regime”.316 A person serving life imprisonment may petition for a pardon after serving 25 years of the sentence.317
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
Persons can be held criminally responsible for all offences committed after they have reached the age of 16, and for intentional killing from the age of 13, and for other specifically named offences from the age of 14.318
Maximum penalties
Single offence
Children aged between 13 and 18 at the time of committing “an especially serious offence” can be sentenced to no more than 10 years' imprisonment for “serious crimes”, and six years for a felony.319
Children aged 16 to 18 at the time of committing an offence may be sentenced to up to 10 years' imprisonment for “especially serious crimes”. For a felony, the maximum sentence is seven years' imprisonment.320
Multiple offences
Children aged between 13 and 16 can generally be sentenced to imprisonment of up to 10 years for multiple offences or 12 years where one of the offences is “especially serious”.321
Children aged 16 to 18 can generally be sentenced to imprisonment of up to 12 years for multiple offences, but up to 15 years where one of the offences is “especially serious”.322
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Viet Nam
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for an offence committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of indefinite detention.323 A person serving a sentence of imprisonment can be considered for commutation where he or she shows “marked progress”.324
A person serving life imprisonment must serve a minimum of 12 years' imprisonment before being considered for a reduced sentence325 and the first time the sentence is reduced it must be commuted to 30 years. A person serving life imprisonment cannot be released before serving a minimum of 20 years' imprisonment.326
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
A child aged 14 or older can be held criminally responsible for “very serious crimes intentionally committed or particularly serious crimes”. A child aged 16 or older can be held criminally responsible for any offence.327
Children aged 14 to 18 are classified as “juvenile offenders” if they are convicted of a criminal offence.328
Maximum penalties
Children aged 16 to 18
Children aged 16 to 18 can be sentenced to a maximum term of imprisonment for 18 years where the relevant offence specifies a sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty. For other offences, the maximum term of imprisonment cannot exceed three quarters of the penalty prison term for an adult.
Children aged 14 to 16
Children aged 14 to 16 can be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 12 years where the relevant offences specifies a sentence of life imprisonment or death. For other offences, the maximum term of imprisonment cannot exceed half of the term for an adult.329
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
Yemen
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for offence committed while under the age of 18.
Meaning of life imprisonment
CRIN has not been able to determine how life imprisonment is defined in Yemeni law.
Minimum age of criminal responsibility
No one can be held criminally responsible for an act committed while under the age of seven.330
Maximum penalties
Death penalty
The death penalty is explicitly prohibited for persons under the age of 18 at the time of the offence,331 but in practice child offenders continue to be executed as a result of inadequate birth registration and age determination.332
Imprisonment
Children aged seven to 13 may be sentenced under the Law of Juveniles, which does not permit life imprisonment and children aged 15 to 17 are sentenced to half of the punishment permitted for adults. Where the death penalty for an adult is permitted, the maximum penalty is imprisonment for between three and 10 years.333
The law on crimes and penalties refers to age “at the time of committing the crime” but it also states that in all cases imprisonment shall be “in special facilities, subject to appropriate treatment of the indicted juveniles”, raising uncertainty as to the law on imprisonment for adults convicted of crimes which they committed as children.334
Number of children serving life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is not a lawful sentence for any offence committed while under the age of 18.
References
1Juvenile Code, Articles 4(1) and 39(1)(c). Available at: http://www.asianlii.org/af/legis/laws/jlcogn846p2005032313840103a495/.
2Interim Penal Code, Articles 90 and 91(3). Available at: http://www.asianlii.org/af/legis/laws/icc175/.
3Interim Penal Code, Article 91(3).
4Juvenile Code, Article 5(1).
5UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on Afghanistan's initial state report, CRC/C/AFG/CO/1, 8 April 2011, paras. 74 and 75.
6Juvenile Code, Article 39(1)(b).
7Juvenile Code, Article 39(1)(a).
8Penal Code, Article 55. Available at: http://www.unodc.org/res/cld/document/bhr/1976/bahrain_penal_code_html/Bahrain_Penal_Code_1976.pdf.
9Penal Code, Article 32.
10Penal Code, Article 70.
11Penal Code, Article 71.
13UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations on the combined second and third periodic reports of Bahrain, CRC/CNHR/CO/2-3, paras. 69 and 70.
14Bahrain Center for human Rights, “Bahrain violates convention on the rights of the child and hands down life imprisonment to two children” 18 August 2014. Available at: http://bchr.hopto.org/en/node/7003.
15Children Act 2013, Section 33(1).
16Penal Code, Section 55. Available at: http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/print_sections_all.php?id=11.
17Penal Code, Section 83.
18Children Act 2013, Section 34.
19Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, as per Third and Fourth periodic reports of Bangladesh to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/BGD/4, 23 October 2008, para. 392
20Penal Code 2004, Article 114. Available at: http://www.judiciary.gov.bt/html/act/PENAL%20CODE.pdf/
21Penal Code 2004, Article 115.
22Second periodic report of Bhutan to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/BTN/2, 16 July 2007, para. 388.
23See e.g. Penal Code, Sections 183, 193, 376, 378, 380.
24See Penal Code, Chapter 3.
25Penal Code, Section 7.
26BBC, “Brunei introduces tough Islamic penal code” 30 April 2014. Available at: www.crin.org/node/39500.
27CRIN, Brunei Darussalam: Inhuman sentencing of children, 1 May 2014. Available at: www.crin.org/node/23978.
28Criminal Procedure Code, Section 238(1).
29Penal Code, Section 53(2): “Notwithstanding the provisions of any other written law, the words 'imprisonment for life' means imprisonment for the remainder of the natural life of the person so sentenced”. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/tldb/pdf/Brunei_Penal_Code_1951_Full_text.pdf.
30Criminal Procedure Code, Section 238(2).
31Penal Code, Section 82.
32Penal Code Section 83.
33Syariah Penal Code, Section 12.
34Syariah Penal Code, Section 13.
35Criminal Procedure Code, Section 238(1). Available at: http://www.commonlii.org/bn/legis/cpc7254/.
36Criminal Procedure Code, Section 238(2).
37Children and Young Persons Order 2006, Section 44.
38Children and Young Persons Order 2006, Section 44.
39CRIN, Inhuman sentencing of children in Brunei Darussalam, May 2014. Available at: www.crin.org/node/23978.
40Syariah Penal Code, Order, Section 80(1).
41Criminal Code, Article 39.
42Penal Code, Article 160(1) and (2). Available at: http://www.metheavy.com/Cambodian%20Laws%20in%20English/Criminal%20Code%202009-EN.pdf.
43Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, Article 81(2). Available at: http://www.asianlii.org/cn/legis/cen/laws/clotproc361/.
44Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, Article 82.
45Combined third and fourth periodic reports of China to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/CHN/3-4, 6 June 2012, paras. 205 and 206
46Criminal Law of the People's republic of China, Article 17
47For more information, see Cipriani, D. (2009), Children’s Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility: A Global Perspective, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, p. 194.
48Reuters, “China formally eases one-child policy, abolishes labour camps”, 28 December 2013. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/28/us-china-reform-idUSBRE9BR01N20131228.
49Third and fourth periodic reports of China to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/CHN/3-4, 6 June 2012, paras. 205 - 206
50See Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China.
51Response of the Chinese Government to questions concerning the combined third and fourth periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/CHN/Q/3-4/Add/1, p. 31.
52Criminal Procedure Ordinance, Cap 221, Section 67B.
53Juvenile Offenders Ordinance, Section 3. Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_pdf.nsf/6799165D2FEE3FA94825755E0033E532/B1FA7805B2CB0C1C482575EE004F8B88?OpenDocument&bt=0.
54Juvenile Offenders Ordinance, Section 3A(3).
55Offences Against the Person Ordinance, Cap. 212, Section 2.
56HKSAR v. Hui Chi Wai and others [2001] HKCA 219; 2001 3 HKC 531; CAC C78/1999 (20 July 2001). Available at: http://archive.is/QIvSL.
57Penal Code, Article 18.
58See Law No. 2/2007, Article 1. Available in Portuguese at: http://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/2007/16/lei02.asp.
59Penal Code, Article 41. Available in Portuguese at: http://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/95/46/codpenpt/codpen0001.asp#1.
60Law no. 2/2007, Article 25(1) and (2).
61See CRIN, Inhuman Sentencing of children in India, January 2016. Available at: www.crin.org/node/30442.
62 Jammu and Kashmir Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2013, Section 17(1).
63Criminal Procedure Code, 433A. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/site/adboecdanti-corruptioninitiative/46814340.pdf.
64Criminal Procedure Code, Article 432.
65Indian Penal Code, Section 82.
66Indian Penal Code 1860, Section 83.
67The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000, Section 15(1)(g), quoted as amended in Salil Bali v. Union of India and another [2013] Writ Petition No. 10 of 2013, available at: http://indiankanoon.org/doc/78971373/.
68Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, Sections 15 and 19(1). Available at: http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/the-juvenile-justice-care-and-protecti...
69 For full details, see CRIN, Inhuman sentencing of children in India, January 2016. Available at: www.crin.org/node/30442.
70Ranbir Penal Code, Article 53.
71Second report of India to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/93/Add.5, 16 July 2003, para. 1139.
72 Article 53.
73 Articles 53 and 55.
74Law No. 39 of 1999 concerning human rights, Article 66(2). Available at: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/population/womenrights/indonesia.women.99.doc.
75Law No. 39 of 1999 concerning human rights, Article 1.
76Penal Code, Article 15(1). Available at: http://www.unodc.org/res/cld/document/idn/indonesian_penal_code_html/I.1_Criminal_Code.pdf.
77See Third and fourth periodic reports of Indonesia to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/IND/3-4, 31 October 2012, para. 165.
78See Inter Press Service, “Commission seeks rehabilitation, not detention”, 10 February 2012.
79Juvenile Court Act, Article 26(2). Cited in Harlan Mardie, The Juvenile Justice System in Indonesia p. 193. Available at: http://www.unafei.or.jp/english/pdf/RS_No68/No68_16PA_Mardite.pdf.
80 Article 1210, Note 1. The Civil Code had previously set the age of maturity at 18, but this was lowered to 15 for boys and 9 for girls by amendments in 1982 (FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), 2009, IRAN/Death Penalty: A state terror policy, Paris: FIDH).
81Cipriani, D. (2009), Children’s Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility: A Global Perspective, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, p.200.
82Islamic Penal Code 2013, Articles 201 and 211 respectively.
83Islamic Penal Code, 2013, Articles 278 and 375. Available at: http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/news/show/845002.
84See CRIN, Inhuman sentencing of children in Iran: Submission for the 20th session of the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review, March 2014. Available at: https://www.crin.org/sites/default/files/iran_crin_upr.pdf.
85Iraq Penal Code, Article 87. Available at: http://www.iraq-lg-law.org/en/webfm_send/1350/.
86CPA Order 31, Sections 2, 3, 4 and 5.
87Juvenile Welfare Law No. 76 of 1983, Articles 47(1) and 108.
88Penal Code, Article 73(1)
89Penal Code, Article 72.
90S.Cr.C (Tel-Aviv) 204/05 The State of Israel v. Anonymous (251. 2007) as per Combined second, third and fourth periodic reports of Israel to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/ISR/2-4, 28 August 2012, para. 5.
91Conditional Parole Law 571-2001, Article 30A as per University of San Francisco School of Law Center for Law and Global Justice, Cruel and Unusual: U.S. Sentencing Practices in a Global Context, May 2012, p. 80.
92Penal Law 5737/1977, Section 41.
93Penal Law of Israel-626/1996, Section 34F.
94Military Order 1651, Section 191. Available at: http://www.dci-palestine.org/sites/default/files/military_order_1651.pdf.
95Israeli Penal Law 5737/1977, Sections 97, 98, 99, 107, 121, 140, 259, 300, 373. Available at: http://www.oecd.org/investment/anti-bribery/anti-briberyconvention/43289694.pdf
96The Youth Law, Section 25(b).
97Military Order 1651, Section 186(b).
98Military Order 1651, Section 168(c).
99Military Order 1651, Sections 209, 210, 213, 220, 230, 231, 233, 240.
100Initial report of Israel to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/8/Add.4, 27 February 2002, para. 1372.
101See Combined second, third and fourth periodic reports of Israel to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/ISR/2-4, 28 August 2012, paras. 310 to 314, 807; Cr. A. 4379/02 Anonymous v. the State of Israel (18/01/2006); Cr. A 9937/01 Roei Horev et al v. the State of Israel (09/08/2004).
102Juvenile Act, Act No. 71 of 2008, Article 51(1). Available at: http://www.asianlii.org/jp/legis/laws/jaan71o2008178/.
103Juvenile Act, Article 58(1)(i)
104Juvenile Act, Article 58(2) and Penal Code, Article 28
105Juvenile Act, Article 59(1)
106See Penal Code, Article 29 for full lists of grounds for which parole may be revoked. Available at: http://www.asianlii.org/jp/legis/laws/pc1907an45o1907133/.
107Penal Code, Article 40
108 See Cipriani, D. (2009), Children’s Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility: A Global Perspective, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, p.201 for further reading.
109Juvenile Act, Article 51(1)
110Juvenile act, Article 51(2)
111 Law No. 32 of 2014 concerning the juvenile law, Article 4(c). Available at: http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=100351&p_cl....
112 Law No. 32 of 2014 concerning the juvenile law.
113 Law No. 32 of 2014 concerning the Juvenile Law, Article 26(a).
114 Ibid.
115Criminal Code, Article 48(4). Available at: http://adilet.zan.kz/eng/docs/K970000167_
116Criminal Code, Article 70.
117Criminal Code, Article 15(1).
118Criminal Code, Article 15(2).
119Criminal Code, Article 15(3).
120Criminal Code, Article 79(1)(f) and 79(7).
121Criminal Law. Article 30. Available through: https://eng.nkhumanrights.or.kr:444/main.htm.
122Criminal Law, Article 54.
123The Criminal Code, Art. 11 and the Criminal Procedure Law, Article 53 as per Combined third and fourth periodic reports of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/PRK/4, 15 January 2008, paras. 14 and 232.
124Criminal Law, Article 27(1) and (2).
125Criminal Law, Article 29.
126Criminal Law, Article 40.
127Criminal Law, Article 41.
128Criminal Law, Article 42.
129Criminal Law, Article 59, 60, 67. 97, 99, 218, 278, 301, 302.
130Report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, A/HRC/25/63, 7 February 2014, para. 61.
131Juvenile Act, Article 59. Available here: http://www.moleg.go.kr/english/korLawEng?pstSeq=52657&rctPstCnt=3&searchCondition=AllButCsfCd&searchKeyword=juvenile.
132Criminal Act, Section 6.
133Criminal Act, Article 9.
134For further reading, see Cipriani, D. (2009), Children’s Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility: A Global Perspective, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited, p. 213.
135Juvenile Act, Article 59
136Juvenile Act, Article 60(1)
137Juvenile Act No. 3 of 1983, Article 14.
138Penal Code, Articles 61 and 91.
139Juveniles Act, Article 6.
140Juvenile Act No. 3 of 1983, Article 6.
141Juvenile Act No. 3 of 1983, Article 14.
142Penal Code, Article 50(2).
143Penal Code, Articles 183, 203 and 217.
144Criminal Code, Article 18(1)
145See Criminal Code, Article 18(2). Such offences include, homicide; intentional causing of severe harm to health; kidnapping; human trafficking; rape; sexual violence; theft; vandalism; hooliganism under aggravating circumstances; illegal manufacturing, purchase, keeping, transport, forwarding for sale purposes of drugs or psychotropics; stealing or extortion of drugs or psychotropics; and putting carriers or communications out of commission.
146Criminal Code, Article 82.
147Penal Law, No. 04/PO, Article 31. Available at: http://www.na.gov.la/docs/eng/laws/pub_adm/Penal%20(2005)%20Eng.pdf.
148Penal Law, No. 04/PO, Article 52.
149Penal Law, Articles 7 and 17.
150Penal Law, Article 44.
151Penal Law, Article 30.
152Law Number 422 of 2002 on the protection of juveniles in conflict with the law or at risk, Article 3.
153 Law No. 422 on the protection of juveniles in conflict with the law or at risk, Article 15. (“felonies that are penalised by death punishment or long life sentences and hard work, they are reduced to imprisonment for five to fifteen years”).
154Penal Code, Article 130A. Available at: http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%2012/Act%20574.pdf.
155Prisons Act, Section 43. Available at: http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%2011/Act%20537.pdf.
156Penal Code. Article 57.
157Penal Code, Article 82. See also Child Act Article 2
158Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997, Articles 2 and 51.
159Essential (Security Cases) Regulations 1975, Article 3.
160See CRIN, Inhuman sentencing of children in Malaysia, July 2010. Available at: www.crin.org/node/30438.
161 The Juvenile Courts Act was repealed by the Child Act 2001
162 Essential (Security Cases) Regulations 1975, Article 2
163Internal Security Act 1960 Articles 57, 58 and 59.
164Lim Hang Seoh v. PP [1978] 1 MLJ 68.
165Child Act, Article 97(2).
166 Penal Code 2014, Section 92.
167 Penal Code 2014, Section 53(a).
168 Penal Code 2014, Section 53(b)(1).
169 Penal Code 2014, Section 53(b)(2); Section 15(c).
170 Penal Code 2014, Section 53(d).
171 Penal Code 2014, Section 53.
172 Regulation on Conducting Trials, Investigations and Sentencing Fairly for Offences Committed by Minors 2006, Sections 4 and 5.
173 Moving from aspirations to impact: NGO Shadow Report on CRC, co-ordinated by Hama Jamiyya and Care Society with funding from UNICEF (2006), para. 120
174 CRIN, Inhuman sentencing of children in the Maldives, November 2015. Available at: www.crin.org/node/30446.
175Penal Code, Article 17.5. Available at: http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=183247.
176Penal Code, Article 53.3.
177 Criminal Code, Article 21(1) and (2). Specifically named offences are homicide, deliberate infliction of a sever bodily injury, rape, theft in aggravating circumstances, misappropriation, robbery, deliberate destruction or damage of property and hooliganism in aggravating circumstances.
178Criminal Code, Article 52(3).
179Speech by President Tsakhla Elbegdorj, “The path of democratic Mongolia must be clean and bloodless”. Available at: http://www.president.mn/eng/newsCenter/viewNews.php?newsId=122. Further information on the abolition of the death penalty in Mongolia is available through the Death Penalty Worldwide website: http://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/.
180 Child Law, Section 45.
181Child Law, Section 71(b).
182Child Law, Section 2(a) and (b).
183Criminal Code, Section 57.
184Criminal Procedure Code, Section 401(1). Available at: http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs14/Code_of_Criminal_Procedure+schedules.pdf.
185Child Law, Section 28(a). Available at: http://myanmarhumantrafficking.gov.mm/content/child-law.
186Child Law, Section 28(b).
187Child Law, Section 71(b).
188Child Law, Section 46.
189Constitution of Nepal, Article 151. Available at: https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Nepal_2010.pdf.
190Children's Act, Section 11(1). Available at: www.ksl.edu.np/cpanel/pics/Child_act.doc
191Children's Act, Section 11(2).
192Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Control and Punishment) Ordinance 2004. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/tldb/browse_country.jsp?country=NEP&cmd=add&node=docs.
193 Children's Act, Section 11(2). Available at: https://www.unodc.org/tldb/showDocument.do?documentUid=6409&.
194 Children's Act, Section 11(4).
195Penal Code, Article 76(1) and 39(1).
196Penal Code, Article 50.
197Penal Code, Article 104.
198Penal Code, Article 107.
199Penal Code, Section 106.
200Penal Code, Section 105.
201Penal Code, Section 55. Available at: http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/1860/actXLVof1860.html.
202Penal Code, Section 57.
203Penal Code, Section 82. Available at: http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/1860/actXLVof1860.html.
204Penal Code, Section 83.
205 Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance 1979, Section 2(a); Offence of Qazf (Enforcement of Hadd) Ordinance 1979, Section 2(a); Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order 1979, Section 2(a); Offences Against Property (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance 1979, Section 2(a). The Supreme Court has ruled that for a female puberty is the onset of menstruation (Farrukj Ikram v The State, PLD 1987 SC 5), for a male when he starts secreting semen (Abdul Jabbar v The State, PLD 1991 SC 172).
206 For example, the Frontier Crimes Regulation 1901.
207 Section 2(b).
208Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, Section 11.
209 UNICEF (2006), Juvenile Justice in South Asia: Improving Protection for Children in Conflict with the Law, NY: UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, p.97.
210Penal Code, Sections 53, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 128, 130, 131, 132, 194, 195, 211, 212, 213, 214, 216, 221, 222, 225, 232, 238, 255, 295, 302, 327, 354, 364, 365, 371, 377, 388, 389, 394, 395, 396, 400, 402, 409, 412, 413, 436, 438, 449, 450, 459, 460, 467, 472, 474, 477, 489, 506 and 511
211Penal Code, Section 57.
212Penal Code, Section 55.
213Control of Narcotic Substances Act, Section 9(c).
214Sindh Children Act, Section 68.
215Second periodic report of Pakistan to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/65/Add.21, 11 April 2003, paras. 50 and 372.
216Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act 2006.
217Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order, Sections 2 and 20.
218Section 9(c)
219For full details on the death penalty for child offenders in Pakistan see CRIN, Pakistan: Inhuman sentencing of children, September 2010. Available at: www.crin.org/node.23982.
220 Presidential Commutation Decree, Official Gazette of Pakistan, December 13, 2001, Article 1(a), as reproduced in Supreme Court Monthly Review (SCMR) 1861, vol. XXXVII (2004), cited in Human Rights Watch (2008), The Last Holdouts: Ending the juvenile death penalty in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Yemen, pp. 13-14
221 Combined third and fourth periodic reports of Pakistan to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/PAK/3-4, 19 March 2009, para. 563.
222 “Daily Newsletter on the death penalty worldwide – 29 July 2002”, Hands Off Cain, year 1, n. 4., reported in OMCT (2003), Rights of the Child in Pakistan: Report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by Pakistan, p.28.
223 Annual Report 2003, cited in Amnesty International (2005a), op cit.
224 Reported in Amnesty International (2005b), Pakistan: Protection of juveniles in the criminal justice system remains inadequate, AI Index 33/021/2005.
225 Amnesty International (2005a), op cit.
226 FIDH and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, “Slow march to the gallows,” p. 38., cited in Human Rights Watch (2008), The Last Holdouts: Ending the juvenile death penalty in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Yemen, pp.13-14.
227 Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, section 7, and Supreme Court decision on Sultan Ahmed v the Additional Sessions Judge and 2 others (All Pakistan Legal Decisions (PLD) 2004 SC 758).
228 Amnesty International (2009), Amnesty International Report 2009: The state of the world’s human rights, London: Amnesty International.
229 Amnesty International (2010), op cit.
230 Human Rights Watch (2008), The Last Holdouts: Ending the juvenile death penalty in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, and Yemen; cf Aziz, R. & Khan, R., (2008). The State of Pakistan’s Children 2008 (SPARC Annual Report). Islamabad, Pakistan: Society for the Protection of Rights of the Child. Ch. 4.
231 PLD 2010 SC at 1080.
232 Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child, www.sparcpk.org
233 Correspondence from SPARCK-DCI.
234 Amnesty International, Executions of juveniles since 1990, www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/executions-of-child-offenders-since-1990, accessed 4 May 2010
235 ibid.
236 Amnesty International (2008), Amnesty International Report 2008: The state of the world’s human rights, London: Amnesty International
237 Human Rights Watch (1999), Prison Bound: The denial of juvenile justice in Pakistan, NY: Human Rights Watch, p.122-123
238 Reported in Amnesty International (2005b), op cit.
239 Information from SPARC-DCI.
240 Draft Juvenile Protection Act, Article 6(1).
241 Article 2 provides that a “juvenile” is any person aged between nine and eighteen years old. Criminal procedures and penalties can be applied to people within this age group, though the severity of penalties varies according to age.
242 Military Order 1651, Section 191. Available at: http://www.dci-palestine.org/sites/default/files/military_order_1651.pdf.
243 Reformation of Juvenile Law NO. 16 of 1954, Article 12 in conjunction with Penal Law No. 16 of 1960. See Palestinian National Authority, The Palestinian National Authority Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, December 2010.
244Military Order 1651, Section 168(b).
245 Military Order 1651, Section 168(C).
246 Military Order 1651, Section 209, 210, 213, 220, 230, 231, 233, 240.
247See Palestinian National Authority, The Palestinian National Authority Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, December 2010, p. 215.
248Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act 2006, Republic Act No. 9344, Section 5.
249Criminal Code, Article 27. Available at: http://www.chanrobles.com/revisedpenalcodeofthephilippinesbook1.htm#.U4xQ6FOJAdM.
250Republic Act No. 10630, Section 6. Available at: http://www.gov.ph/2013/10/03/republic-act-no-10630/.
251See Child Rights International Network, “Juvenile justice: States lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility”. Available at: http://crin.org/node/31376.
252Draft Criminal Code of the Philippines, Section 10. Available at: http://www.doj.gov.ph/criminal-code-committee.html.
253Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act 2006, Republic Act No. 9344, Section 6 (as amended by Republic Act No. 10630).
254Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act 2006, Republic Act No. 9344, Section 38.
255Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act 2006, Section 40.
256Penal Code, Article 68, 71 and 80.
257Penal Code, Article 61.
258Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act 2006, Section 59.
259Penal Code, Article 27.
260 Parricide, murder, infanticide, kidnapping and serious illegal detention where the victim is raped, robbery with homicide or rape, destructive arson, rape or “carnapping” where the driver or occupant is killed or raped or offences under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act 2002 punishable by more than 12 years of imprisonment.
261Republic Act No. 9344, Section 20 (as amended by Act No. 10630).
262Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 360. Available at: http://www.qfiu.gov.qa/files/Law%2023%20for%20the%20year2004-E.pdf.
263 Law No. II of 2004, the Penal Code, Article 53. Available at: http://portal.www.gov.qa/wps/wcm/connect/8abaea8046be1deaae97ef70b3652ad8/Penal+Code.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&useDefaultText=0&useDefaultDesc=0.
264See Criminal Code, Articles 22, 29, 46 57, 60, 92, 104, 105, 107, 111, 113, 114, 133, 135, 136, 159, 198, 220, 235, 244, 245, 250, 279, 280, 281, 282, 284, 285, 286, 287, 288, 302, 318, 335 and 352. Available at: http://portal.www.gov.qa/wps/wcm/connect/8abaea8046be1deaae97ef70b3652ad8/Penal+Code.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&useDefaultText=0&useDefaultDesc=0.
265 For example, see Bassiouni, M.C. (1997), “Crimes and the Criminal Process”, Arab Law Quarterly, 12(3), 269-286
266Criminal Procedure Code, Article 34.
267Second periodic report of Qatar to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/QAT/2, 16 December 2008, para. 292.
268 Cipriani, D. (2009), Children’s Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility, Ashgate.
269 Law of Criminal Procedure, Article 13
270 Human Rights Watch (2008), Adults Before Their Time: Children in Saudi Arabia’s Criminal Justice System, p.13
271Second periodic report of Saudi Arabia to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/136/Add.1, 21 April 2005, para. 36
272Second periodic report of Saudi Arabia to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/136/Add.1, 21 April 2005, para. 66
273For full information on the legality of the death penalty for child offenders in Saudi Arabia, see CRIN, Saudi Arabia: Inhuman sentencing of children, July 2010. Available at: www.crin.org/node/30435; Saudi Arabia: UPR Submission on Inhuman Sentencing, March 2013. Available at: https://www.crin.org/en/library/publications/saudi-arabia-inhuman-sentencing-children.
274Abdul Nasir bin Amer Hansah v. Public Prosecutor [1997] SGCA 38. Available at: http://lwb.lawnet.com.sg/legal/lgl/rss/landmark/%5B1997%5D_SGCA_38.html.
275Criminal Procedure Code, Section 2.
276Criminal Procedure Code of Singapore- Annotations and Commentary, Academy Publishing (Singapore, Jennifer Marie et al. Eds. 2012); Lee and Lee Advocates, The ten or life' perplexity in section 304(a) of the Penal Code – an analysis of case law on point. Available at:http://www.lawgazette.com.sg/2006-8/Aug06-feature1.htm.
277Penal Code,Section 82. Available here: http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/aol/home.w3p
278Penal Code, Section 83.
279Criminal Procedure Code, Section 314. Available at: http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/aol/home.w3p.
280Children and Young Persons Act, Section 38.
281Children and Young Persons Ordinance, Section 24(4).
282Children and Young Persons Ordinance, Section 24(1).
283Penal Code, Sections 75 and 76, as amended May 2018. Available at: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/srilanka/statutes/Penal_Code.pdf.
284Penal Code, Section 53.
285Children and Young Persons Ordinance, Section 24(2).
286 Children and Young Persons Ordinance, Section 23(1). Available at: http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/srilanka/statutes/Children_and_Young_Persons_Ordinance.pdf.
287Juvenile Act 1974, Article 29(b) (as amended by Legislative Decree No. 52 of 2003).
288Juvenile Act 1974, Article 10 (as amended by Legislative Decree no. 52 of 2003).
289Juvenile Act 1974, Article 29(a) (as amended by Legislative Decree no. 52 of 2003).
290Penal Code, Article 58(1). Available at: http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=237375.
291Penal Code, Article 76(7)(a).
292Criminal Code, Article 23(1). Available at: http://legislationline.org/download/action/download/id/1707/file/207b8150765af2c85ad6f5bb8a44.htm/preview.
293See Criminal Code, Article 23(2). Offences include, homicide, intentional major bodily injury, intentional minor bodily injury, kidnapping, rape, forcible act of sexual character, terrorism, illegal trafficking of narcotics, hooliganism under aggravating circumstances, intentional damaging or destruction of property under aggravating circumstances.
294UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on Tajikistan's second periodic report, CRC/C/TJK/CO/2, 5 February 2010, para. 72.
295Criminal Code, Article 87(6)(c) and (d)
296Criminal Code, Article 88.
297Penal Code, Section 18. Available at: http://www.samuiforsale.com/law-texts/thailand-penal-code.html#58.
298 Penal Code, Section 73. Available at: http://www.samuiforsale.com/law-texts/thailand-penal-code.html#58.
299See Penal Code, Section 74(1) – (5).
300Penal Code, Section 18.
301See Sections 108, 119, 121, 130, 131, 133, 132, 135, 147, 149, 200-205, 276, 277, 277bis, 277 ter, 241 and 337.
302Constitution of Timor-Leste, Article 32(1). Available at: https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/East_Timor_2002.pdf. Penal Code, Article 59(1). Available at: http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=243617.
303Penal Code, Article 20.
304Penal Code, Article 20.
305Combined second and third periodic report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, CRC/C/TLS/ 2-3, November 2013, paragraph 284.
306Director of Prison Services, Ministry of Justice, June 2013.
307Criminal Code, Article 21. Available at: http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=330150. Relevant offences are those found in Articles 101, 107, 108, 134, 227, 230, 231, 232, 234, 235, 291, 292 and 294.
308Criminal Code, Article 87(1).
309 Juvenile Delinquency and Vagrants Act, Article 7; Penal Code, Article 62.
310 Cipriani D. (2009) Children's Rights and the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility: A Global Perspective, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
311 Al-Muahairi, B.S.B.A. (1996), “The Islamisation of Laws in the UAE: The Case of the Penal Code”, Arab Law Quarterly, 11(4), 350-371. According to the same source, the Draft Penal Code originally attempted to avoid variation regarding the age of the offender by exempting persons under 18 from hadd punishments and directing that such persons should be governed instead by the Juvenile Delinquents and Vagrants Act (Articles 163 and 485), but these provisions were not included in the Penal Code as finally enacted.
312 Juvenile Delinquents and Vagrancy Act, Article 1
313Shari'a Courts Act, Articles 1 and 2.
314 Penal Code, Articles 8 and 10
315Criminal Code, Article 51. Available at: http://www.lex.uz/pages/GetAct.aspx?lact_id=111457.
316Criminal Code, Article 51.
317Criminal Code, Article 76.
318 Criminal Code, Article 17. Offences include, [articles 98, 104-106, 118, 119, 137, 164-166 and 169(2) and (3), 173, 220, 222, 247, 252, 263, 267, 271(2) and (3), 277
319 Criminal Code, Article 85(2)(a)-(c).
320 Criminal Code, Article 85(d)-(f).
321 Criminal Code, Article 86(2).
322 Criminal Code, Article 86(3).
323Criminal Code, Article 34. Available at: http://moj.gov.vn/vbpq/en/Lists/Vn%20bn%20php%20lut/View_Detail.aspx?ItemID=610.
324Criminal Code, Article 3(4).
325Criminal Code, Article 58(1).
326Criminal Code, Article 58(3).
327Criminal Code, Article 12.
328Criminal Code, Article 68.
329Penal Code, Article 74(2).
330 Republican Decree, Law No. 12 of 1994 concerning crimes and penalties, Section 31. Available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/3fec62f17.html.
331 Republican Decree, Law No. 12 of 1994 concerning crimes and penalties, Section 31.
332 See CRIN, Inhuman sentencing of children in Yemen: submission to the Human Rights Council, June 2013. Available at: http://www.crin.org/node/32235.
333Republican Decree, Law No. 12 of 1994, Article 31.
334See Law No. 12/1994 concerning crimes and penalties, Article 31.