Explainer: What is the law on sentencing children found guilty of serious crimes?
The omission of any specific reference in Irish law to what sentence the courts should impose on a child who commits murder points to the rarity of the crime.
The Children Act 2001 says detention for any period for any crime must be "a measure of last resort".
Before making a detention order, the court must seek a detailed probation officer's report on the child, and, where a judge imposes a period of detention exceeding three years, the reasoning behind it must be divulged in open court.
The only restriction on a judge in deciding a period of detention, however, is that it cannot be longer than the term of imprisonment that may given to an adult for the same offence.
Life sentences for murder by adults are mandatory and that means a judge has the discretion to impose a life sentence on a child too.
Section 103 of the Children Act 1908 abolished the death penalty for children convicted of serious crimes that continued to carry the penalty for adults, and laid down the principle of sentencing discretion.
"In lieu thereof [of the death penalty], the court shall sentence the child or young person to be detained during His Majesty's pleasure, and, if so sentenced, he shall, notwithstanding anything in the other provisions of this Act, be liable to be detained in such place and under such conditions as the Secretary of State may direct," it stated.
The act hails from another era but the Criminal Justice Act of 1990, which formally abolished the death penalty for adults, reaffirmed the principle in the 1908 Act, stating:
"Section 103 of the Children Act, 1908, shall have effect in relation to a child or young person who is convicted of an offence for which an adult would be required to be sentenced to imprisonment for life as it had effect before the passing of this Act in relation to a child or young person convicted of an offence for which an adult would have been required to be sentenced to death."
The Children Act 2001 only mentions murder in the context of the murder of a child but since that act was passed, there have been several murders by under 18s.
Two were given life sentences, but one of them was 19 at the time of sentence for a murder committed when he was 17. He lost an appeal against his conviction last year but indicated a further appeal against the sentence would be lodged.
Another boy was given a life sentence but with the condition that it be reviewed after 10 years. After the review, he was given a release date of two years later.
The two boys convicted of murdering Ana Kriegel will be sentenced on July 15.
