New child protection law raises sentences for 15 to 18 year olds

The General Assembly passed the amendments to the child protection law on Saturday. For offences carrying aggravated life imprisonment, an offender aged between 15 and 18 at the time now faces 19 to 27 years, and for offences carrying life imprisonment, 15 to 18 years. Judges also gain discretion to withhold the age-based reduction for intentional homicide, and the phrase juvenile pushed into crime is replaced by child in the judicial process.

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