CAT/C/TUR/CO/3 Security Directorate rather than in the Children’s Branch. Further, the Committee is concerned at reports of ill-treatment of children while held in unofficial places of detention and that interrogations have occurred without legal assistance or the presence of an adult or legal guardian. While noting information from the representative of the State party that most sentences do not exceed two years’ imprisonment, the Committee is concerned at reports that children allegedly continue to be sentenced to long periods of imprisonment (art. 16). The State party should develop and implement a comprehensive system of alternative measures to ensure that deprivation of liberty of children is used only as a measure of last resort, for the shortest period possible and in appropriate conditions. The State party should ensure that detention of children is subject to regular review so as to make certain that no child is subject to any form of ill-treatment during detention and that no child is held in unrecorded places of detention. In addition, the State party should strengthen awareness and application of international human rights standards relating to juvenile justice for members of the juvenile courts and increase the number of such courts. Additionally, the Committee urges the State party to consider raising the age of criminal responsibility, currently set at 12 years, to comport with international standards. Corporal punishment 22. The Committee, while noting the amendment to the Civil Code in 2002 which removed parents’ right of correction, is concerned at the lack of an explicit prohibition of corporal punishment in the home and in alternative settings in the domestic legislation, and reports that corporal punishment is widely used by parents and is still considered to have educational value in schools (art. 16). The Committee should clarify beyond doubt the legal status of corporal punishment in schools and penal institutions and, as a matter of priority, prohibit it in the home, alternative settings and, if appropriate, schools and penal institutions. Treatment of persons requiring psychiatric care 23. The Committee notes with concern the lack of information provided in the State party’s report on conditions in rehabilitation centres with respect to offenders requiring psychiatric care.While noting information by the representative of the State party on five rehabilitation centres for detainees with psychiatric problems currently within penitentiary institutions, the Committee is concerned at the lack of information on the conditions of these facilities, including the full and effective exercise of the fundamental safeguards of such detainees. The Committee is furthermore concerned at the lack of information on general conditions, legal safeguards and protection against ill-treatment of persons in psychiatric facilities and mental hospitals, and notes with concern the high number of electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) administered in mental hospitals and clinics indicated in the State party’s report (para. 306). Further, the Committee regrets the lack of information on access to such facilities by independent monitoring mechanisms (art. 16). The State party should undertake a serious review of the application of electroconvulsive treatment (ECT), and should end any other treatment which could amount to acts prohibited under the Convention, of persons requiring psychiatric care. The State party should ensure by law and in practice fundamental legal safeguards for all persons requiring psychiatric care, whether in psychiatric facilities, mental hospitals or penitentiary institutions. The State party should furthermore allow access to psychiatric facilities and 11