Section 9(4) of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) gives legislative support to the long-held judicial view that courts should be reluctant to imprison youthful first offenders, particularly 17-year-olds, for armed robbery where they have no significant criminal history. The younger the offender, the greater the desirability of rehabilitation without imprisonment, though some cases are so serious that imprisonment is required notwithstanding youth. Sentencing courts should be provided with comparable sentence data for the relevant age group and offence type.
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