Where a youthful offender commits an offence of extreme gravity, shows no real remorse, and has limited rehabilitation prospects, the principles of deterrence and denunciation assume considerable significance and correspondingly reduce the scope for leniency on account of youth. Youth is 'a primary consideration' for sentencing, not 'the primary consideration'. The proposition that an aider and abettor necessarily receives a lesser sentence than the principal offender must be approached with considerable circumspection; culpability depends on all the circumstances and an aider and abettor may be equally or more culpable than the principal.
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