The sentence is the most severe punishment given under French law and it can be imposed by the courts for aggravated murder, treason, terrorism, drug kingpin and other serious felonies resulting in death or involving torture.
][citation needed] Life sentences for crimes other than aggravated murder are rare.
Inmates jailed for life are required to serve a safety period of 18 to 22 years before they become eligible for parole.
[2][3] In the case of child murder involving rape or torture, the premeditated murder of a state official (since 2011), and terrorism resulting in death, the court can impose a safety period of up to 30 years, or order that the prisoner is ineligible for parole at all, so-called perpétuité incompressible, or "non-reducible eternity".
[4][5][6] It is possible to give a reduction of the safety period for serious signs of social re-adaptation (even if the court has ordered that the prisoner is to spend the rest of his or her life in prison[7]), and it is possible to be freed before the safety period for serious health reasons.