Changes to Bermuda's criminal code may be too lenient on teens that commit murder, the Senate heard Wednesday.

Several Senators questioned why changes to eligibility for parole open the door to relatively short sentences - ten years for premeditated murder and seven years for murder - for those who murder while under the age of 18. Senator Mark Pettingill pointed to a situation which has developed in Canada where gangs now use minors specifically as "hit men" because of the shorter sentences they receive if caught and convicted.

In Bermuda, if murder is committed by an adult, the offender is not eligible for parole for 15 years, Sen. Pettingill noted. If the murder is premeditated, the offender is not eligible for parole for 25 years.

But the law is more lenient for young offenders, he said.

A young offender convicted on charges of premeditated murder may be eligible for parole within ten years, whereas a young offender convicted of plain murder may be eligible in seven years.

Therefore, if a 16-year-old is convicted of premeditated murder, the teen will have a chance to be released from prison much earlier than would an adult who is imprisoned on a conviction of manslaughter.

And this leniency can be less of a deterrent to commit crime for minors, he said. Senate President Alf Oughton agreed with this concern, saying: "I just can't understand the reasoning that a 16-year old can get this brief period." Senator Pettingill said if you asked school kids what the punishment was for murder and they would know it. Even if a culprit commits murder at age 16, but was not caught for ten years, he or she will still be tried and convicted as a young offender on that offence, though they may have committed a string of crimes in the interim period, said Senator Pettingill.

The parole eligibility changes were passed by the Upper House as part of the Criminal Code Amendment Act 2001.