Blog

Ending corporal punishment of children in penal systems

Despite international bodies calling for the abolition of corporal punishment of children, in many states it is still lawfully used as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions and as a sentence for crime. In the second blog of our series for the World Congress on Justice with Children, Sonia Vohito, Legal Policy Specialist at the End Violence Partnership, outlines recent progresses and remaining challenges in achieving prohibition of corporal punishment of children.

Sonia Vohito1st November 2021

Ensuring access to justice for all: the 2021 World Congress on Justice with Children

Children in contact with the law face multi-dimensional violence, discrimination, rights violations, and structural barriers throughout their contact with justice systems. In the first blog of our series for the World Congress on Justice with Children, PRI’s Tríona Lenihan considers the key barriers to children’s equal access to justice and presents the upcoming Congress which focuses on non-discriminatory and inclusive child justice systems.

Tríona Lenihan27th October 2021

Women deprived of liberty and excessive use of pre-trial detention in Peru

In this blog, Jérôme Mangelinckx considers the drivers and implications of the growing female prison population in Peru, examining the overuse of detention for those awaiting trial, and how to move towards greater use of non-custodial alternatives to detention.  2020 marked the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners […]

Jérôme Mangelinckx26th April 2021

Proving who I am: the plight of people in detention without proof of legal identity

This expert blog by human rights expert and commentator, Vicki Prais, examines the issues faced by people in prison without proof of legal identity. Vicki explains how the absence of ID can in itself lead to detention for some people, and also causes a range of problems for those detained or leaving prison impacting on […]

Vicki Prais9th October 2020

A long road to detention being used as a last resort for children: a look at the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty

This week in Geneva the UN Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty was presented after three years of research. The Study represents the first scientific attempt, on the basis of global data, to comprehend the magnitude of the situation of children deprived of liberty, its possible justifications and root causes, as well as conditions […]

Taghreed Jaber22nd November 2019

We are 30: Looking forward to the next decade

“It all started with a meeting…” 30 years ago, Vivien Stern, Ahmed Othmani and Hans Tulkens created Penal Reform International. They had in common the belief we still cherish, as stated by Nelson Mandela: “No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails”. In other words, the health of criminal justice […]

Florian Irminger21st November 2019

What happens to the child whose parent is sentenced to death?

To mark the 17th World Day Against the Death Penalty on 10 October 2019, this expert blog by Oliver Robertson, an expert on abolition of the death penalty and rights of children whose parents are in prison, reflects on the impacts of having a parent sentenced to death or executed. The World Day 2019 is […]

Oliver Robertson9th October 2019

Niñez que Cuenta: La cara invisibilizada de las políticas de drogas y el encarcelamiento

“Mi papá es genial.” ¿Cuál es su nombre? “Bernardo.” Cuéntame un poquito sobre él. ¿Qué te gustaba hacer con él? “A mí me gustaba jugar, a veces me dejaba ir a la callecita [calle de la comunidad], o con mi mamá, y él jugaba conmigo.” ¿Y por qué no juegas más con Bernardo? “Porque está […]

Corina Giacomello and Luciano Cadoni24th September 2019