75. This law applies to adolescents who, at the time they commit the offense they are charged with, are under 18 years of age. As of 18 years of age, the adult criminal regime is applicable. This law makes a distinction between non-punishable and punishable individuals. The first group includes children under 16 years of age, while the second group covers children between 16 and 18 years of age at the time they commit the offense, if they are accused of an offense that is subject to public prosecution and punishable by more than two years’ imprisonment. 46 76. Articles 2 and 3 of Law 22,278 empower judges to provide tutelary measures for a child who commits an offense during the investigation and the processing of the proceedings, regardless of his or her age. 47 No time frame or limit is established for the measures that are ordered, on a discretionary basis, for child offenders. 48 Upon attaining 18 years of age, and after tutelary treatment for at least one year, the judge may impose one of the punishments established in the national Criminal Code. One of the characteristics of this regime is that the application of the punishment is basically dependent on subjective indicators such as those resulting from the tutelary treatment period. As explained in the document signed by both the United Nations Children’s Fund (hereinafter “UNICEF”) and by 46 The pertinent parts of Law 22,278 establish: Art. 1. The child who has not attained 16 years of age may not be punished. Nor may the child who has not attained 18 years of age in the case of offenses subject to private prosecution or punishable by imprisonment of no more than two years, a fine or loss of civil rights. If a minor is accused of an offense, the judicial authority shall take charge of him provisionally, proceed to prove the offense, investigate the minor, his parents, tutor or guardian directly, and order reports and expert appraisals of the child’s personality and of the family and the environmental situation. When necessary, he shall place the minor in an appropriate place for a more thorough investigation, but only for as long as is essential. If the studies that are carried out reveal that the minor has been abandoned, is without assistance, in physical or moral danger, or has behavioral problems, the judge shall take charge of him definitively by a court order, following a hearing with the parents, tutor or guardian. Art. 2. The child from sixteen to eighteen years of age who commits any offense not listed in article 1 may be punished. In such cases, the judicial authority shall submit him to the respective proceedings and take charge of him provisionally during its processing, in order to make it possible to exercise the powers granted by article 4. Whatever the result of the proceedings, if the studies that are carried out reveal that the minor has been abandoned, is without assistance, in physical or moral danger, or has behavioral problems, the judge shall take charge of him definitively by a court order, following a hearing with the parents, tutor or guardian. Art. 3. The decision shall establish: a) The mandatory custody of the minor by the judge, in order to seek his appropriate upbringing by means of his integral protection. To achieve this objective, the judge may order the measures he considers appropriate for the minor, which may always be amended in the interests of the latter; b) The resulting restriction of the exercise of parental authority or tutorship, within the limits imposed and complying with the indications provided by the judicial authority, without prejudice to the continuation of the obligations inherent in the parents or the tutor; c) The decision on guardianship when this is appropriate. The final decision may cease at any time by a court order and shall conclude ipso jure when the minor attains his majority. Art. 3 bis. In the national jurisdiction, the technical and administrative authority with competence for child welfare shall be responsible for confinements decided by the judges in application of articles 1 and 3. If appropriate, with adequate justification, the judges may order confinements in other public or private institutions. 47 Cf. UNICEF. National Secretariat for Children, Adolescents and the Family. Adolescentes en el Sistema Penal, Situación actual and propuesta para un proceso de transformación, 1st edition, September 2008 (file of annexes to the pleadings and motions brief, tome XI, folio 6213). 48 Cf. Amicus curiae submitted by the Colectivo de Derechos de Infancia and Adolescencia (merits file, tome III, folio 2008). 27