By Brittney Hodnik
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
WASHINGTON, United States – Amnesty International is advocating for the United States to stop its policy of courts sentencing children to life in prison without parole. Amnesty’s recent publication, “This is where I’m going to be when I die; Children facing life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in the USA,” highlights the problems associated with condemning children to life in prison; the report illustrates the problem through the stories of three people.
RTT News reports that there are more than 2,500 adult prisoners serving life in prison in the U.S. for crimes they committed as children. Further, Irish Times News reports that in the United States, children as young as 11 years old have received life sentences.
Natacha Mension is a Campaigner on the USA at Amnesty International. She said, “In the USA, people under 18 years old cannot vote, buy alcohol, lottery tickets or consent to most forms of medical treatment but they can be sentenced to die in prison for their actions. This needs to change.”
As of now, according to RTT, Amnesty International reports that the United States and Somalia are the only two nations that have not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. This convention forbids life sentences without parole for crimes committed by minors, no matter what the crime is. The convention has been in place for nearly two decades now.
The United States Supreme Court found that “life without parole is an especially harsh punishment for a juvenile” because a child offender “will serve, on average, more years and a greater percentage of his or her life in prison than an older offender” will serve for the same crime, according to Amnesty International.
BBC News further reports that Amnesty reinforces the idea that it does not condone child crime whatsoever. “We are not excusing crimes committed by children or minimizing their consequences, but the simple reality is that these sentences ignore the special potential for rehabilitation and change that young offenders have,” said Mension.
Amnesty’s above-mentioned case study took an in depth look at three people including Christi Cheramie. Cheramie killed her 18-year-old fiancé’s great aunt when she was 16 years old. She is now 33 and still in prison, seeking an executive clemency with the Louisiana Board of Pardons. The report details her childhood which was “marked by sexual abuse” and at least two attempts of suicide.
Amnesty will continue to press the United States to change its policy in this area of law and sentencing, arguing that life imprisonment for a minor is too harsh a sentence.
For more information, please visit:
BBC News– US Must Stop Jailing Minors for Life, Says Amnesty — 30 Nov. 2011
Irish Times News — Too Young to Vote, But They Can Be Sentenced to Die in a US Prison — 30 Nov. 2011
RTT News — US Urged to Halt Jailing Minors for Life Without Parole — 30 Nov. 2011
Amnesty International — USA Must Halt Life Without Parole Sentences for Children — 29 Nov. 2011
