• US: New Prison Rape Standards Offer Landmark Protection
    May 17, 2012
    The long awaited national prison rape elimination standards issued on May 17, 2012 by the Justice Department, if fully implemented, may end widespread prison rape in the United States. The standards provide detailed guidance to federal, state, and local officials on how to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse in their confinement facilities.
  • US Supreme Court: Take Into Account Prison Hardships for Youth
    Mar 29, 2012
    The US Supreme Court, in its deliberations on the cases Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs, should consider the harsh conditions juvenile offenders face in adult prisons. On March 20, 2012, the US Supreme Court held oral arguments in the cases, which question the constitutionality of sentencing youth below the age of 18 to life without parole.
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Juvenile Justice

  • US: New Prison Rape Standards Offer Landmark Protection
    May 17, 2012
    The long awaited national prison rape elimination standards issued on May 17, 2012 by the Justice Department, if fully implemented, may end widespread prison rape in the United States. The standards provide detailed guidance to federal, state, and local officials on how to prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse in their confinement facilities.
  • US Supreme Court: Take Into Account Prison Hardships for Youth
    Mar 29, 2012
    The US Supreme Court, in its deliberations on the cases Miller v. Alabama and Jackson v. Hobbs, should consider the harsh conditions juvenile offenders face in adult prisons. On March 20, 2012, the US Supreme Court held oral arguments in the cases, which question the constitutionality of sentencing youth below the age of 18 to life without parole.
  • Egypt: Children on Trial
    Mar 27, 2012
    Egypt’s military courts have investigated or tried at least 43 children over the past year,including the pending trial of 16-year-old Ahmed Hamdy Abdel Aziz in connection with the Port Said football riots.
  • Colorado: Assembly Acts to Protect Youth Accused of Crimes
    Mar 6, 2012
    Colorado’s General Assembly passed a bill on March 5, 2012 that will help keep children accused of crimes out of adult jails when they are awaiting trial.
  • California: Over 300 Youth Face Life Without Parole
    Feb 29, 2012
    Approximately 300 youth offenders have been sentenced to die in California’s prisons for crimes committed when they were teenagers, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The United States is the only country in the world where people who were under age 18 at the time of their crime serve sentences of life without parole. Nationally, more than 2,500 youth offenders are serving these sentences.
  • Give child offenders chance at rehabilitation
    Feb 2, 2012
    Virginia should not move in the direction of treating child sex offenders the same as adult offenders. Instead, the state should stand by its commitment to offer young offenders a chance at rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
  • US: Harsh Conditions for Young Lifers
    Jan 3, 2012
    The approximately 2,570 youth offenders serving life without parole sentences in adult US prisons experience conditions that violate fundamental human rights. The United States is the only country in the world with youth offenders (below the age of 18 at the time of offense) serving life without parole sentences. The US Supreme Court will consider arguments about the constitutionality of the practice in March 2012.
  • US: Comments Submitted to Department of Justice on Proposed Standards to End Prison Rape
    Apr 4, 2011
    The standards authorized by the Prison Rape Elimination Act must provide clear and effective national guidelines to keep adults and juveniles in confinement safe from sexual abuse. That prison rape has been as prevalent as it is reflects the failure of correctional agencies to take such abuse seriously and to adopt and enforce the policies necessary to end it.
  • US: Human Rights Council Adopts Universal Periodic Review
    Mar 18, 2011

    The Universal Periodic Review of the United States addressed a large number of important issues, such as the death penalty, mistreatment of migrants, racial disparities in education, access to health care and accountability for torture.

  • Fighting Extreme Sentencing for Child Offenders
    Feb 14, 2011
    During his last day in office, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger commuted the prison sentence of one of the state’s most egregiously sentenced victims of child sex trafficking. Sara Kruzan, sentenced to life in prison without parole at the age of 16, will now have the opportunity to present her case before a parole board.
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