CRINmail 1421
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INHUMAN SENTENCING: Life imprisonment of children around the world
Children can be sentenced to life imprisonment in 73 countries around the world, according to research published by CRIN. The new report, “Inhuman sentencing: Life imprisonment of children around the world” reviews laws in every country around the world to examine how children can be subjected to life imprisonment and, where life imprisonment has been abolished, what sentencing regimes have been introduced in its place. The report also looks at the ways that international, regional and national human rights mechanisms have been used to challenge life imprisonment of children and what potential they offer to campaigners.
This special edition CRINmail sets out the findings of the report.
Life imprisonment of children around the world
Life imprisonment sentences cover a diverse range of practices, from the most severe form, in which a person is sentenced to die in prison, to more indeterminate sentences in which it is not clear at the time of sentencing how long a sentenced person will spend in prison. What all these sentences have in common is that at the time the sentence is passed a person is liable to be detained for the rest of his or her life.
Legal history and culture has clearly been influential in the retention of life imprisonment. Of the 73 States that permit these sentences for children, 46 are within the Commonwealth of Nations. It is difficult to ignore the impact that the British criminal law tradition has had on the Commonwealth States, including a punitive approach to the sentencing of children. By contrast, States within the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, influenced by the strong restrictions on detention introduced after the collapse of Portugal’s Estado Novo regime, have almost all prohibited life imprisonment of children. The Spanish legal tradition has also been largely hostile to life imprisonment - a practice now almost eliminated in Latin America. In Europe too, life imprisonment of children is on the wane: only three States clearly retain such sentences while a further three remain unclear on the subject.
Life imprisonment, as it is retained for children, takes a number of forms:
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In approximately nine States it is legal to sentence children to “life without parole” - that is imprisonment for the rest of a child’s natural life - though today only the United States continues to use this sentence.
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By far the most common form of life imprisonment for children - lawful in 63 States - is that which allows for life-long detention but subject to the possibility of being conditionally released from detention.
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Detention at the pleasure of the courts or executive - a form of sentencing that draws on the English criminal law tradition - is found in the laws of 27 Commonwealth States. In some legal systems, the distinction between this form of sentence and life imprisonment can blur into insignificance. In the United Kingdom, the release provisions are the same as those for life imprisonment, while in Kenya release can only be secured using the prerogative of mercy, with the result that the release provisions for detention at the president’s pleasure and life imprisonment without the possibility of parole are formally the same.
As part of the research, CRIN has published online country profiles detailing the legality of life imprisonment in each State, how life imprisonment is defined and the availability other lengthy detention sentences in national laws.
How many children are affected?
One of the aims of the research was to establish how many children around the world are affected by sentences of life imprisonment - and available figures are included in the report and profiles - but unfortunately it has not been possible to paint a full picture. While many States regularly publish figures on sentencing within the juvenile justice system, no country publishes comprehensive or up to date statistics on the number of people serving life sentences for offences committed while under 18 nor on the amount of time they spend in detention in practice. This void of authoritative and up to date information not only makes it difficult to hold States accountable for their treatment of children, but undermines the ability of States to engage in evidence based reviews of sentencing practices and their rehabilitative merits.
Developing international standards
The international community has long focused on life imprisonment without parole (LWOP), a form of sentencing singled out by many human rights treaties. While LWOP is undoubtedly the harshest form of life imprisonment, this focus has served to mask widespread and less overt forms of life sentence. But in recent years, this limited approach to life imprisonment of children has begun to shift: the General Assembly first urged States to consider repealing all forms of life imprisonment in 2012, the Human Rights Council has twice called on States to eliminate life imprisonment of children in law and practice and earlier this month, the Special Rapporteur on torture confirmed that life imprisonment and lengthy sentences are cruel, inhuman or degrading and called for the prohibition of life imprisonment of children in all its forms.
The report charts this development of international standards and includes a complete review of the way the UN’s human rights mechanisms have held States to account for life imprisonment of children.
Challenging life imprisonment of children
The report found wide variation in the ways that regional human rights courts have responded to challenges to the compatibility of life imprisonment with human rights standards, from the categorical prohibition established by the American Court of Human Rights in 2013, to the incremental restrictions imposed on life imprisonment in the United States and the as yet unclear situation before the European Court of Human Rights, which has grappled with the issue of life imprisonment of adults in recent years but has not clarified how these standards would be applied to children.
The report analyses these cases in depth, with a view to looking at how they might lead to future challenges to life imprisonment for children. You can also browse life imprisonment cases published through CRIN’s case law database, which we will be adding to in the coming weeks and months.
The campaign continues
This research is part of CRIN’s inhuman sentencing campaign, which was launched to follow-up the UN’s study on violence against children. The UN study identified the elimination of the death penalty, life imprisonment and corporal punishment as basic requirements to remove violence from juvenile justice systems.
We focus on these specific forms of sentencing, not because eliminating them will bring justice systems around the world into complete conformity with children’s rights, but because they are among the most serious rights violations in the justice system and their elimination must be a starting point in any meaningful juvenile justice reform. CRIN believes that the elimination of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment must be part of broader progress towards a justice system that fully respects children’s rights.
Further information:
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NEWS IN BRIEF
Armed conflict
Juvenile justice
Health and standard of living
Baby boxes
Access to justice
Discrimination
Citizenship
Violence against children
Unaccompanied children
ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN IN SERBIA
The CRC is considered to be part of national law in Serbia and thus enforceable in the courts, but it has not been incorporated into the national legal system. Although civil cases may be brought on behalf of children, a child will be considered competent for litigation only within the limits of their recognised disposing capacity. Where a child is not considered so competent by the court, the case must be initiated and conducted through a legal representative. Children can, however, bring cases themselves in relation to certain matters as foreseen by the Family Act. A serious obstacle to access to justice in the country is the lack of legal aid or regulation of pro bono services, as well as the lack of any specific provisions on the standing of NGOs to bring court cases on behalf of children. Complaints concerning rights violation by administrative authorities may be submitted to the Protector of Rights, but only once all domestic remedies have been exhausted.
Read the full report on access to justice for children in Serbia.
This report is part of CRIN’s access to justice for children project, looking at the status of the CRC in national law, the status of children involved in legal proceedings, the legal means to challenge violations of children’s rights and the practical considerations involved in challenging violations.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Call for nominations: International Children's Peace Prize 2015
Organisation: KidsRights Foundation
Deadline: 1 April 2015
Online discussion: How Youth Can Take on a Critical Role in Human Rights Advocacy
Organisation: New Tactics in Human Rights
Date: 13-17 April 2015
European conference: Net Children 2020 - rowing up with Media
Organisation: Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research et al.
Date: 16-17 April 2015
Location: Berlin, Germany
Child abuse: 9th Latin American Regional Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect
Organisation: International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
Dates: 26-29 April 2015
Location: Toluca, Mexico
Course: LLM in International Children's Rights
University of Leiden Date: From September 2015
Application deadline: 1 May 2015
Location: Leiden, The Netherlands
Asia-Pacific: Alternatives to detention and restorative justice for children
Organisation: Asia-Pacific Council for Juvenile Justice
Date: 5-8 May 2015
Location: Phuket, Thailand
Bodily integrity: 2015 Genital Autonomy conference
Organisation: Genital Autonomy
Dates: 8-9 May 2015
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
LGBT rights: Int'l Day against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia (IDAHO)
Organisation: IDAHO Committee
Dates: 17 May 2015
Location: N/A
Statelessness: International Conference - 'None of Europe's Children Should be Stateless'
Organisation: European Network on Statelessness
Dates: 2-3 June 2015
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Child rights: 9th European Forum on the Rights of the Child
Organisation: European Commission
Date: 3-4 June 2015
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Justice systems: International Congress 'Children and the Law'
Organisation: Fernando Pessoa University
Dates: 11-13 June 2015
Location: Porto, Portugal
Course: Children at the heart of human rights
Organisation: Université de Genève
Date: 16 June - 4 July 2015
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Justice sector reform: Training programme on applying human rights based approaches to justice sector reform Organisation: International Human Rights Network
Dates: 22-26 June 2015
Location: Maynooth, Ireland
Business: Course on children's rights and business
Organisation: University of Leiden
Date: 6-9 July 2015
Location: Leiden, The Netherlands
Course: International children's rights - Frontiers of children's rights
Organisation: University of Leiden
Date: 6-11 July 2015
Location: Leiden, The Netherlands
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EMPLOYMENT
CRIN: Legal research internship
Location: London, United Kingdom
Application deadline: 6 April 2015
CRIN: Advocacy assistant (Paid internship)
Location: London, United Kingdom
Deadline: 7 April 2015
CRIN: Legal research volunteer/ Pro bono lawyer (Hebrew-speaking)
Location: Flexible
Application deadline: 8 April 2015
Consortium for Street Children: Consultant for drafting the General Comment on children in street situations
Application deadline: 31 March 2015
Location: Various
Oak Foundation: Call for organisation to lead project on understanding resilience in children exposed to abuse and exploitation
Location: N/A
Application deadline: 3 April 2015
Save the Children Sweden: Monitoring, evaluation, accountability & learning manager
Location: Khartoum, Sudan
Application deadline: 10 April 2015
Save the Children Sweden: Program development manager
Location: Khartoum, Sudan
Applications deadline: 10 April 2015
Child Soldiers International: Africa Programme Officer
Location: London, United Kingdom
Application deadline: 13 April 2015
Love146: Safe accommodation live-in worker
Location: N/A
Application deadline: N/A
Love146: Residential deputy manager
Location: Hampshire
Application deadline: N/A
Love146: Residential care worker
Location: Hampshire
Application deadline: N/A
THE LAST WORD
“Life imprisonment and lengthy sentences, such as consecutive sentencing, are grossly disproportionate and therefore cruel, inhuman or degrading when imposed on a child. Life sentences or sentences of an extreme length have a disproportionate impact on children and cause physical and psychological harm that amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.”
UN Special Rapporteur on torture, report on children deprived of their liberty, March 2015.
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