When sentencing a juvenile for a serious offence such as rape, the Supreme Court applies the same principles as the Juvenile Court — rehabilitation is the primary concern and general deterrence carries less weight than for adults. However, wholly exceptional circumstances are required to justify a non-custodial sentence for rape even for a juvenile. Home detention is inappropriate where the required head sentence substantially exceeds the twelve-month maximum home detention period, because completion of the home detention order suspends the balance of the sentence without supervision. Juvenile detention is impractical where the head sentence extends beyond the offender's eighteenth birthday, as there is no mechanism under the Juvenile Justice Act to convert detention to imprisonment.
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