Crime > Punishment > Minimum life sentence to serve before eligibility for requesting parole: Countries Compared
- Home
- Country Info
- Stats
- Crime
- Punishment
- Minimum life sentence to serve before eligibility for requesting parole
DEFINITION:
Minimum to serve before eligibility for requesting parole.
No date was available from the Wikipedia article, so we used the date of retrieval.
| COUNTRY | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| Afghanistan | Never |
| Albania | 25 years |
| Argentina | 20 years or never |
| Armenia | 20 years or never |
| Australia | 10 years, 20 years, 25 years, or never; individually set by judge |
| Austria | 15 years (Imprisonment for a definite period) or never (Imprisonment for lifetime, when clemency is rejected by President) |
| Azerbaijan | Never |
| Belarus | 25 years |
| Belgium | 15 years (no previous conviction or below 3 years), 19 years (previous conviction below 5 years), or 23 years (previous conviction 5 years or more) |
| Belize | Never |
| Bolivia | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Brazil | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Bulgaria | 20 years or never |
| Canada | 7 years minimum to infinite |
| Cape Verde | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Chile | 40 years or never |
| China | 10 years for non-violent crimes; never for murder, rape, kidnap, arson, explosives offences, putting hazardous materials or other organized violent crimes |
| Colombia | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Costa Rica | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Croatia | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Cuba | Never; only under pardon by president |
| Cyprus | 20 years |
| Czech Republic | 20 years general 30 or more years if part of sentence |
| Denmark | 12 years, or never |
| Dominican Republic | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Ecuador | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Egypt | Never |
| El Salvador | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Estonia | Never |
| Finland | 12 years for court release, any time for presidential pardon |
| France | 18\u201322 years (30 years or never for very rare cases) |
| Germany | 15 years |
| Greece | 16 years, or 20 years in cases of multiple life sentences |
| Holy See (Vatican City) | 21 years, 26 years |
| Honduras | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Hong Kong | Individually set by judge |
| Hungary | 20\u201340 years or never |
| Iceland | 16 years |
| India | 14 years or never; individually set by judge |
| Indonesia | Never |
| Iraq | Never |
| Ireland | 12\u201330 years or never; individually set by judge |
| Israel | 13\u201330 years or never |
| Italy | 21 years, 26 years, or never |
| Jamaica | 10\u201330 years or never; individually set by judge |
| Japan | 10 years or never |
| Jordan | Never |
| Kazakhstan | 25 years or never |
| Kiribati | 25 years or never |
| Kosovo | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Kyrgyzstan | Never |
| Laos | Never |
| Latvia | 25 years |
| Lebanon | Never |
| Lithuania | 25 years |
| Macau | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Malaysia | 20 years or never |
| Mexico | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Morocco | Never |
| Nepal | 20 years |
| Netherlands | Never |
| New Zealand | 10 years, 17 years, 20 years, 30 years or never; individually set by judge |
| Nicaragua | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Nigeria | Never |
| North Korea | Never |
| Norway | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Pakistan | 25 years |
| Panama | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Paraguay | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Peru | 35 years or never |
| Poland | 25 years or more\u2014individually set by judge |
| Portugal | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Republic of Macedonia | 15 years |
| Republic of the Congo | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Romania | 20 years |
| Russia | 25 years |
| Saudi Arabia | Never |
| Serbia | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Singapore | 20 years |
| Slovakia | 25 years |
| Slovenia | 25 years |
| Somalia | Never |
| South Africa | 10, 15, or 25 years |
| South Korea | 10 years or never |
| Spain | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Sweden | 18 years or never, but parole hearing may be held after 10 years served, thus fixing a much later date for release on parole |
| Switzerland | 10 years or 15 years; individually set by judge |
| Syria | Never |
| Tajikistan | Never |
| Tunisia | Never |
| Turkey | Life imprisonment: 24 years (30 if organized crime), Multiple life imprisonments: 30 years (34 if organized crime), Aggravated life imprisonment: 30 years (36 if organized crime), Multiple aggravated life imprisonments: 36 years (40 if organized crime), or never (aggravated life imprisonment for terrorism) |
| Turkmenistan | Never |
| Ukraine | 25 years |
| United States | 15 years minimum to infinite, or never (depending on crime and state) |
| Uruguay | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Uzbekistan | 25 years or never |
| Venezuela | Varies, depending on sentence |
| Vietnam | 14 years or never |
