Their crimes range from terrorism to drug smuggling.
And many young criminals in Afghanistan would have expected to serve their sentences in the notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison, on the outskirts of Kabul.
But in a sign of changing times, a new youth rehabilitation centre has been built, with money from the Italian government.
Bernard Smith has been given exclusive access.
It’s estimated around one hundred and twenty thousand Russians die each year from drug and alcohol abuse. Now Dmitry Medvedev - Vladimir Putin’s likely successor - has promised to tackle the problem if he’s elected president on March 2nd.
But under Putin, Russia’s substance abuse victims have been largely ignored by an administration more keen on promoting its social achievements.
In the third of our series on the State of Russia, Jonah Hull reports from the city of Perm in the Ural Mountains about the problem claiming so many young lives.
Armed groups operate throughout Somalia with the aim of destabilising the interim government.One group, known as the Mujahidin Youth, has told Al Jazeera that it will attack anyone who supports the government. Clayton Swisher reports.
Riz Khan talks to a panel of young American Muslims about the issues that most concern them.
Jacob Zuma, the new leader of the African National Congress, pledged to unify an increasingly divided party.But as Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reports, much has changed since the struggle which united the movement and the end of apartheid.