Child Life Without Parole
Key Recommendations
Below are recommendations outlined in the joint Human Rights Watch / Amnesty International report "The Rest of Their Lives: Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States".To the President of the United States
- Propose and urge Congress to enact legislation abolishing the sentence of life without parole for children convicted of federal crimes.
- Submit the Convention on the Rights of the Child to the U.S. Senate for its consent to ratification without reservation.
To the United States Congress
- Abolish the sentence of life without parole for children convicted of federal crimes. Enable current child offenders serving life without parole to have their cases reviewed by a court for reassessment and re-sentencing to a sentence with the possibility of parole.
- Consent (in the Senate) to ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child without reservation.
- Increase funding to states that eliminate life without parole sentences for child offenders in order to ensure state prisons can increase rehabilitative programs focused on helping such offenders to qualify for parole.
- Amend Part D of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act to require the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to serve as a central depository, analyst, and disseminator of national data on children tried and sentenced as adults.
To the Attorney General of the United States
- Suspend the sentence of life without parole for child offenders pending its abolition.
To United States Attorneys
- In accordance with the instruction to U.S. government attorneys, contained in the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual, to consider factors such as proportionality and whether a conviction will achieve rehabilitation, do not bring charges against a youth offender that would result in a life without parole sentence when there are other charges that could be suitably brought.
To State and Federal Judges
- Exercise any available discretion to not impose the life without parole sentence on child offenders since it constitutes a violation of international human rights law. If the sentence is mandated by statute, evaluate whether, as applied to the defendant on trial, it would constitute cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
To State Governors
- Propose and urge the enactment of state legislation that eliminates the sentence of life without parole for any crime committed by a person under the age of eighteen.
- Until the sentence of life without parole for children is abolished, review the clemency applications of all child offenders sentenced to life without parole and commute their sentences to terms of years or give clemency. In reviewing clemency applications, take into account the international legal prohibition against life without parole for persons under the age of eighteen.
- Develop and publish annual statistics on youth in the adult criminal justice system, including: demographic information (age, race, sex), data on children tried in criminal court, the manner by which each child reached criminal court (e.g., transfer, direct file), the nature of the crimes alleged, existence of prior adult record, and if convicted, the precise sentence received.
To State Legislators
- Enact legislation that abolishes the sentence of life without parole for any offense committed by a child. Such legislation should include a retroactivity provision enabling current child offenders serving life without parole to have their cases reviewed by a court for re-assessment and re-sentencing to a sentence with the possibility of parole.
- Strictly limit the practice of trying children in the adult criminal courts. There should be a presumption in favor of adjudicating children’s cases in the juvenile justice system. The transfer of children’s cases to the criminal court should be strictly limited to those cases in which a balancing between the severity of a child offender’s crime, his or her age, and his or her best interests clearly points to a need for transfer, and only if accused child offenders transferred to the criminal court can be provided with the care and safeguards, such as not to be compelled to give testimony or to confess guilt, to which they are entitled under international law.
- Repeal or modify existing transfer provisions that automatically require all children charged with certain offenses to be tried as adults. The decision to transfer a case to the criminal courts should be subject to judicial discretion and should never be mandatory.
- Enact legislation that eliminates the prosecutorial option of filing cases against child offenders directly in adult criminal court. All cases against child offenders, regardless of their alleged crime, should be brought first in a juvenile court. Enact legislation that provides criminal court judges with the discretion to send child offenders to juvenile detention facilities until they are at least twenty-one, before being sent to adult prison. Ensure that offenders over the age of eighteen who remain in juvenile detention facilities are housed separately from those below the age of eighteen.
- Increase funding, training, and administrative support for juvenile public defender programs.
To State Prosecutors
- Pending the abolition of the sentence of life without parole for child offenders, cease seeking sentences of life without parole for child offenders.
- Instead of filing charges against child offenders directly in criminal court, refer all child offenders to juvenile court.
- Before any determination to transfer a case to the criminal courts is made, request and participate in, as an officer of the court, a full and fair assessment of each child offender’s competency to stand trial as an adult.
To State Criminal and Juvenile Court Judges
- Before a child is tried before a criminal court, automatically raise the issue of a child defendant’s competency to stand trial as an adult.
- Ensure that transfer hearings for child offenders in juvenile court are meaningful and are limited to cases in which a balancing between the severity of the child offender’s crime, age, and best interests clearly points to a need for transfer. The hearing must weigh several factors, including at a minimum: the nature and seriousness of the offense, the age and history of the child, and his or her amenability to treatment. The court’s decision should be written and should explain all evidence relied upon and reasons for ruling for or against transfer to adult criminal court. If appealed, transfer decisions should be subject to review by a higher tribunal.
To Defense Attorneys
- Ensure that child defendants, as well as their parents or guardians, understand all procedures, defense strategies, and the seriousness of the charges, including possible sentences, so they can fully exercise their rights as clients to participate in their legal defense.
- Vigorously defend the interests of child defendants during competency and transfer hearings, as well as during other aspects of the criminal process.
- Assist child offenders in the filing of clemency applications.
To State and Federal Officials Who Fund and Administer Corrections Programs
- Child offenders serving life without parole should have access to all prison programs offered—educational, vocational, occupational, and other rehabilitative programs—regardless of the length of their sentence.
- Child offenders under the age of eighteen should not be held with adults; other decisions about where to hold youth offenders should take into account their mental and physical maturity and should be reviewed on a regular basis.
- Provide mental health and social services to assist youth offenders in adjusting to prison conditions as well as in coping with the length of their sentences.