Where a child offender is charged with an offence within the jurisdiction of the Children's Court but is before a higher court only because of a co-charged indictable offence, the child should ordinarily be sentenced under the CYFA for the lesser offence, and general deterrence has no role under that Act. For manslaughter by a youthful first offender involving a single unprovoked punch, a sentence of 6 years' imprisonment was manifestly excessive; 3 years' detention in a youth justice centre was substituted. The conduct of a youthful offender that embodies impulsivity and lack of foresight calls for reduced weight on deterrence and denunciation even when sentencing under the Sentencing Act.
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