The average perpetrator still runs very little risk of being prosecuted. National courts can and should play a greater role in prosecuting perpetrators. Unfortunately. recruiting and using child soldiers does not violate U.S. criminal or immigration law. As a result. the U.S. government is unable to punish individuals found in our country who have recruited or used child soldiers. In contrast. other grave human rights violations. including genocide and torture. are punishable under U.S. criminal and immigration law. This loophole in the law was identified during "Casualties of War: Child Soldiers and the Law." a hearing held by the Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. Ishmael Beah. a former child soldier and author of the bestselling book A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. testified at this hearing.
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