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UN GLOBAL STUDY ON CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY (2019) 1654520333 en 290 Study questionnaire did not reveal particular trends across regions for upper limits of detention sentences for children. However, other research explains that trends might relate to legal tradition and culture: A large majority of countries that have life imprisonment for children (around two-thirds) are within the Commonwealth and come from the English legal tradition, while countries with a Spanish or Portuguese legal history commonly tend to set explicit limits on maximum sentences and prohibit any kind of ‘perpetual imprisonment’. Most post-Soviet States, in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, on the other hand, have coalesced around a 10-15 year maximum fixed term sentence for children.212 Beyond these trends, the length of sentences largely varies between countries and sometimes within the same country – mainly depending on the child’s age and the seriousness of the crime. In the 110 countries/territories for which data could be obtained and that do not have life imprisonment for children213, the maximum sentence for children ranges from 3 to 50 years. The average maximum sentence is 13.3 years. The median average maximum in turn lies at 12 years. The Asian region stands out with a range from minimum of 10 years and a maximum 50 years. The average sentence in this specific region therefore falls at 17.9 years, with a median average of 15 years. Reflecting on the clear prohibition of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or release in international law, such sentences have been abolished in a majority of countries, although life sentences remain legal in 67 States, specifically in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Oceania, covering a range of practices (see graphic below).214 It is not known how many children are currently detained under life sentences globally. Fixed term sentences that are so long that they preclude the possibility of release are also a form of life sentence imposed on children. This eventuality is a particular risk when a child is sentenced for multiple offences and the sentences are to be served consecutively. The risk of establishing this form of de facto life sentences for children is avoided in jurisdictions that set clear limits on maximum detention sentences that also cover consecutive sentencing of children. 212 CRIN, Inhuman Sentencing: A global report on life imprisonment of children, 2016, p. 7. Report and individual country data, Available at https://archive.crin.org/en/library/publications/inhuman-sentencing-life-imprisonment-children-around-world.html. 213 For life imprisonment and death penalty data, see graph below. 214 This includes, for instance, the requirement of a person to serve a minimum period in detention before being eligible for release – subject to conditions and recall to detention if those conditions are breached. The sentence remains in place indefinitely and children may again be detained under this sentence for life without any further conviction. CHAPTER 9 CHILDREN DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE https://archive.crin.org/en/library/publications/inhuman-sentencing-life-imprisonment-children-around-world.html