Court to rule on juvenile jail terms

Court to rule on

juvenile jail terms

The Home Secretary's power to imprison under-age killers and determine the amount of time they spend "at Her Majesty's pleasure" may be affected tomorrow by a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The case, brought by the law reform pressure group Justice, questions whether the current procedures for the detention and release of juveniles convicted of murder conform to the European Convention on Human Rights. The court's ruling could curtail the Home Secretary's power to decide on the release dates for killers such as Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who murdered two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.