"Wo" (A Child) v WA

(2005) 153 A Crim R 352; [2005] WASCA 94

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Young offenders
4. › Detention as last resort
5. › Whether custodial sentence appropriate for 13-year-old offenders
6. › Whether all reasonable steps towards rehabilitation taken before imposing detention
7. › Young Offenders Act 1994 (WA), ss 7(h), 120(1), 120(2)
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Young offenders
4. › Sentencing principles
5. › Rehabilitation
6. › Responsibility of court to satisfy itself that rehabilitation prospects exhausted
7. › Relevance of breach of previous orders
8. › Young Offenders Act 1994 (WA), ss 6(d)(iii), 6(e), 7(b), (g)-(m)
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Young offenders
4. › Aboriginal offenders
5. › Regional areas
6. › Access to resources
7. › Amplification process
8. › Whether disadvantaged background and lack of diversionary resources contributed to offending profile
9. › Diversion from courts
10. › Young Offenders Act 1994 (WA), ss 23, 24
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Young offenders
4. › Reasons for sentence
5. › Whether failure to expressly state consideration of alternative dispositions constituted error
6. › Young Offenders Act 1994 (WA), s 120(2)

Quick Take

Before imposing a custodial sentence on a very young offender, a court must satisfy itself that all reasonable steps towards rehabilitation have been taken and have failed. The court must also carefully examine the detail of prior offending rather than characterising it broadly, being astute to ensure that the 'amplification process' — whereby disadvantaged young offenders, particularly Aboriginal youth, quickly exhaust diversionary alternatives due to systemic factors rather than the intrinsic seriousness of their offending — does not lead to unjustified detention. The justification for custodial disposition of a young offender lies in a combination of moral culpability and intrinsic seriousness of the offence, and even where detention would otherwise be justified, rehabilitation prospects may make a different disposition appropriate.