A child offender's failure to attend a youth justice conference may deprive the offender of the mitigating feature of demonstrated remorse but cannot be treated as an aggravating feature of the offence. Where a child offender has not had the benefit of structured intervention, the sentencing court should consider whether non-custodial options combining community service and probation can achieve the objectives of the Youth Justice Act before resorting to detention. The failure of counsel at the sentencing hearing to submit against detention does not preclude the offender from arguing on appeal that detention was not the only appropriate sentence.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 1 later case that cites this judgment.
1 of the 1 citing case carries a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.