LGC 9.7 - Juvenile Life Sentences are Cruel Act - Passed

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

THE JUVENILE LIFE SENTENCES ARE CRUEL ACT

SECTION I — Title
This legislation may be cited as the Juvenile Life Sentences are Cruel Act.

SECTION II — Abolishing Juvenile Life Sentences
1. The region of Lincoln shall prohibit imposing life sentences, as well as sentences long enough to function as de facto life sentences (50+ years in prison), for crimes committed while under the age of 18. The maximum sentence for a crime committed while under the age of 18 in Lincoln shall be fifty (50) years, with the possibility of parole after twenty-five (25).

2. All prisoners in Lincoln serving life sentences or de facto life sentences (50+ years in prison) for crimes committed while under the age of 18 shall have their sentences commuted to fifty (50) years, with the possibility of parole after twenty-five (25).

3. This legislation shall take effect immediately.

Sponsor: ZMUN M441/Adowemiti
Occupying: Slot 2 of 8

Sponsor, please advocate for your bill.

[ZMUN M441]

Most juveniles who commit crimes have been completely rehabilitated by the time they are in the later years of adulthood, and often, they are traumatized in ways that most youth would lash out in one way or another over — four fifths of beings sentenced to life in prison for crimes committed as juveniles witnessed violence in their homes on a regular basis, nearly half were victims of physical abuse themselves, and three quarters of women given life sentences for crimes committed as girls were victims of childhood sexual abuse. As such, sentencing juveniles to life imprisonment is 'cruel.'

Atlasia is the only nation in the world that permits minors to be sentenced to life in prison without parole. The 1989 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child — which has been signed by every nation except Somalia and ratified by every nation except Somalia and Atlasia — prohibits life imprisonment without possibility of parole, alongside the already-banned-for-juveniles death penalty, for crimes committed under the age of 18. As such, sentencing juveniles to life imprisonment is an 'unusual punishment.'

On these grounds, this bill prohibits life sentences, as well as sentences that function as de facto life sentences, for juvenile offenders.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Motion for a final vote

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

A vote on this is beginning.

Aye

[ZMUN M441]

Aye.

[GregTheGreat657]

Aye

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Passes 3-0 with 1 not voting.

[Former President tack50]

X tack50