Government introduces penal law for minors, reforms youth protection

The creation of a penal law for minors, and the reform of youth protection legislation means that the two legal aspects for minors will now be clearly separated.

This major change means the protection of minors will be up to date and in line with the obligations set out by the UN's committee for children's rights, said the two ministers.
With the new legislation, the Luxembourg Government and Ministry of Justiceare finally meeting the needs of children and adolescents, said Rentate Winter, international expert of children's rights, who was involved in the development of the bills. Prevention now takes absolute priority.

Minors committing an offence can only be prosecuted from the age of 14, and can be considered minors up to the age of 21, depending on circumstances.

Prison sentences for minors have been reduced, following a general rule of halving the sentence compared to an adult committing the same offence, up to a maximum of 10 years and a minimum of six months.

But prison should always be considered a last resort, with prevention work taking priority. This is the domain of the national children's office.

After this, there are alternatives such as curfews. Only once all these options have been exhausted should prison be considered.

The Unisec youth prison in Dreiborn will be extended from 12 to 24 units and will be managed by the prison administration rather than the government's Centre socio-éducatif, which will focus on youth protection, prevention of youth criminality and cooperation with families.

The aim is to try and keep troubled adolescents within their family as much as possible.

The reform contains three bills, which the ministers hope can be voted on before the end of this legislative period.