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This question is a follow-up question to this one.

Can a child receive a full life sentence without the chance of parole? What has the case been and what has SCOTUS had to say on the matter?

Neil Meyer
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1 Answers1

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For comparison, in any life sentence without the possiblity of parole is unconstitutional for adults. The possibility of earning release must always exist, even if that is made harder for some convicts than for others.

Children below the age of 18 may be sentenced to up to 10 years for serious crimes (§18 JGG). Adolescents between 18 and 21 may be tried under juvenile rules if the personality of the defendant and the circumstances of the crime make it "not mature" (§105 JGG), with slightly different limits.

But there is something called Sicherungsverwahrung, secure confinement. This can be passed by the court in addition to the normal prison term, and it is detention until such a time when psychiatrists find the inmate no longer dangerous. Sicherungsverwahrung can be given to juveniles as well as adults.

So a child may be locked up for life, but after at most 10 years of the sentence the continued lockup depends on a negative report from the medical staff.

o.m.
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