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Don’t treat young offenders as if they are adults, says PACE

Retribution and punishment should take second place to social measures for the education and rehabilitation of young offenders, PACE Standing Committee said today.

In a resolution based on a report by Marietta Karamanli (France, SOC), PACE said depriving children and young people of liberty should be a last resort. “A child or young person – as a developing, learning human being – is still open to positive socialising influences,” the parliamentarians said, and should not be treated in the same way as adult offenders.