USA: 'This is where I’m going to be when I die': Children facing life imprisonment without the possibility of release in the USA

Index Number: AMR 51/081/2011
Date Published: 30 November 2011
Categories: USA

More than 2,500 people in the USA are serving a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release for crimes committed when they were younger than 18 years old, in violation of international human rights law. This report highlights the cases of three people serving life without parole for crimes committed when they were children. Their cases show why Amnesty International is calling on the USA to join the rest of the world in ending a punishment that is utterly incompatible with the basic principles of juvenile justice.