When sentencing a youthful offender for a serious sexual offence, the sentencing judge should not adopt a 'discount approach' of determining an appropriate adult sentence and then reducing for youth. Instead, the sentence should be determined on its own terms having regard to the very different considerations applicable to youthful offenders, including that general deterrence is directed at the limited class of potential offenders to which the youth belongs. A sentence of three years for a 15-year-old who committed a brief, impulsive rape of a four-year-old child, with strong mitigating factors, was manifestly excessive and reduced to 18 months.
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