Sentencing Our Children to Die in Prison

Juvenile Life Without Parole

The Center For Law and Global Justice has issued a report on the sentencing of child offenders - those convicted of crimes committed when younger than 18 years of age -to a term of life imprisonment without the possibility of release or parole ("LWOP"). The sentence condemns a child to die in prison. It is the harshest sentence an individual can receive short of death and violates international human rights standards of juvenile justice.

New Information on Juvenile LWOP Global Practice

FEBRUARY 2008--The Center has now confirmed with Israeli officials that children given life sentences, including those in the Occupied Territories which have been the subject of serious concern by the Center and other human rights groups, are entitled to parole review. There remains the concern that parole review is difficult to pursue and rarely granted. The new confirmation by Israel means that the United States, with 2,381 such cases, is now the only country in the world known to either issue the sentence or to have children serving life without parole.

Authors:

Michelle Leighton
Director, Human Rights Programs
Center for Law and Global Justice
mleighton@usfca.edu
University of San Francisco School of Law

Professor Connie de la Vega
Director, Frank C. Newman International Human Rights Law Clinic
delavega@usfca.edu
University of San Francisco School of Law

This report may be accessed in .pdf format here.

Read the official press release here.