A/HRC/RES/42/11 account of their sex, age, criminal records, the legal reason for their detention and the necessities of their treatment, ensuring good and safe working conditions for staff and avoiding understaffing; 12. Encourages States to address overcrowding in detention facilities by taking effective measures, including by enhancing the availability and use of alternatives to pretrial detention and custodial sentences, access to legal aid, mechanisms for crime prevention, early release and rehabilitation programmes and the efficiency and capacity of the criminal justice system and its facilities, and to make use in this regard of, inter alia, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Handbook on Strategies to Reduce Overcrowding in Prisons; 13. Calls upon States to review penal policies, including sentencing policies, practices and guidelines, that can contribute to overincarceration and overcrowding, and to apply the principle of proportionality, in particular regarding so-called “zero-tolerance policies”, such as the application of mandatory pretrial detention and mandatory minimum sentences, including life imprisonment sentences, especially for minor and/or non-violent crimes; 14. Underscores the particular importance of providing appropriate training in the administration of justice, including for prosecutorial, judicial and prison authorities, with a view to preventing all forms of violence and human rights violations and abuses, raising awareness of and eliminating prejudice and discrimination, ensuring proportionate sentencing and enhancing the implementation of non-custodial measures at the pretrial and post-conviction stages; 15. Calls upon States to develop and implement clear policies and regulations on the conduct of and use of force and restraint by staff in accordance with international norms and standards, including those aimed at providing maximum protection for women deprived of their liberty from any gender-based physical or verbal violence, abuse and sexual harassment; 16. Urges States to take all necessary and effective measures to prevent and respond to all forms of violence against children within the justice system, and to consider applying the United Nations Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Children in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, 2 as appropriate, in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of laws, policies, programmes, budgets and mechanisms aimed at eliminating violence against children in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice, and encourages them to support and to benefit from the programme proposed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United Nations Children’s Fund in this regard; 17. Encourages States not to set the minimum age of criminal responsibility at too low an age, bearing in mind the emotional, mental and intellectual maturity of the child, and in this regard refers to the recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 years of age; 18. Urges States to ensure that, under their legislation and practice, neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment is imposed for offences committed by persons under 18 years of age; 19. Calls upon States to consider establishing or strengthening existing independent, child-friendly and gender-sensitive national monitoring and complaints mechanisms so as to contribute to safeguarding the rights of children deprived of their liberty; 20. Welcomes the work on the in-depth global study on children deprived of liberty,3 and the submission of the report on the global study4 to the General Assembly; 2 3 4 4 General Assembly resolution 69/194, annex. See General Assembly resolution 69/157, para. 52 (d). See A/74/136.