A youth justice centre order may be upheld on a Crown appeal even for serious violent offences (armed robbery and intentionally causing serious injury with a knife) committed by a recidivist young offender, where there are genuine prospects of rehabilitation and the offender has responded positively to custodial programs. The Court reaffirmed that Crown appeals should only succeed in very clear and rare cases of manifest inadequacy, and that sentencing judges retain a right to act mercifully in aid of a young person's reformation.
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