Inhuman Sentencing: Life imprisonment of children around the world

The Child Rights International Network (CRIN) has been reporting on the inhuman sentencing of children, including sentences of death, life imprisonment and corporal punishment, since 2010.

CRIN is concerned that international condemnation is often limited to life imprisonment without parole and the death penalty – while focus should widen to include any sentence that will detain the child for the rest of his or her natural life. Focus should also be placed on laws that permit detentions which violate the standards established by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

This report highlights the diverse and prevalent laws that permit life imprisonment of children. It concludes with a series of recommendations for States as well as the United Nations on how to uphold and insure the standards set forth by the CRC are upheld.