Youth Justice News
| Published date | 01 December 2015 |
| Author | Tim Bateman |
| Date | 01 December 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225415610995 |
| Subject Matter | Youth Justice News |
Youth Justice
2015, Vol. 15(3) 294 –305
© The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/1473225415610995
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Youth Justice News
Compiled by Tim Bateman
UK One of Just Three European Countries to Retain the Use of
Life Imprisonment for Children
Life imprisonment may take a variety of forms:
Imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole, ensuring that the convicted
person will never be released short of some form of judicial pardon
Life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, where the person remains in cus-
tody until, and unless, a decision to grant parole is made. Typically, such sentences
involve the specification of a minimum term that must be served before parole can
be considered
Indeterminate sentences which allow indefinite or unspecified periods of imprison-
ment, which can result in a life term in the absence of a decision to release.
Until recently, much of the focus, from a children’s rights perspective, targeted life impris-
onment without the prospect of parole. This form of disposal has been significantly less
common than the other two described above, and as noted in a previous Youth Justice
news, the American Supreme Court has recently ruled such sentences as unconstitutional
(Bateman, 2012). Approximately, nine other States retain this sentence as an option for
children, but in practice it is rarely applied.
In November 2012, the United Nations General Assembly called upon States to con-
sider repealing all forms of life imprisonment for children. The United Nations Convention
on the Rights of Child explicitly prohibits life imprisonment without parole and further
requires that the detention of children should be a measure of last resort and for the
shortest appropriate period, implying that child imprisonment should be used sparingly
and that children who are incarcerated should be released as soon as they no longer pose
a risk of serious harm. Indeed, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child,
in its General Comment on Juvenile Justice, explains that life imprisonment of a child
would render it
Corresponding author:
Tim Bateman, Department of Applied Social Studies, University of Bedfordshire, Park Square, Luton LU1 3JU, UK.
Email: tim.bateman@beds.ac.uk
610995YJJ0010.1177/1473225415610995Youth JusticeBateman
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