VANNUCCINI - Against the Imposing of Life Sentences on Juvenile Offenders: The Landmark Decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the Case of Mendoza et al. v. Argentina |
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“[A]ll these individuals sentenced to life imprisonment state that, on hearing the sentence, at first, they are unable […] to understand the scale of what has occurred. And when they do understand it, the effect is devastating; they feel that life has ended and, in many cases, they think the only thing they can do is take their own lives […] this is particularly serious owing to the period of their life during which this occurs; they are not adults who can assume absolute responsibility for their actions, but rather adolescents who are still at a formative stage, who are not yet adults; who, at that psychological moment of their development, are told by the law and the State that this is the end. [T]he effect is truly devastating”. [...]
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