The principle that youth is of lesser importance when an offender 'conducts himself as an adult' applies to premeditated violence, not to impulsive reactions that may be influenced by the immaturity of youth. Where immaturity is a significant contributing factor to an offence, the criminality is less than it would be for an adult. A murder involving intent to inflict grievous bodily harm rather than intent to kill, and which is impulsive rather than premeditated, does not fall in the upper range of seriousness of murder offences. For young offenders, the additional term should be increased at the expense of the minimum term.
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