Children's Trials in Israeli Military Courts

After interrogation, children are brought here for trial,

Ofa military prison near Jerusalem.

The army would not let Four Corners film inside.

I've been behind these walls three times.

I saw children shuffling across the courtyard,

handcuffed and shackled.

Some hearings lasted 60 seconds.

I saw one boy shout the name of his prison

so his mother would know where he was being held.

I saw the judge convict some children without even once looking at them.

Through it all, what I saw was a conveyor belt of convicted children.

I think perhaps to give you some indication of how efficient,

from a military perspective, this system is, according to the military court's own records,

their annual report,

the courts have a conviction rate of around 99.74%.

Typically, a Palestinian boy convicted of throwing stones will be sentenced to about three months' imprisonment.

The United Nations Children's Agency,

UNICEF, last year released a scathing report on Israel's system.

It found that Palestinian children had been threatened with death,

physical violence, solitary confinement and sexual assault against themselves or a family member.

The report found that that ill-treatment was widespread,

systematic and institutionalized throughout the system from the moment that the child was arrested right up until the sentencing process.

Last month, under pressure from human rights groups,

Israel stopped the long-standing practice of keeping children overnight in outdoor cages.

Children had been kept freezing in the cages during snowstorms.