When sentencing a juvenile offender who is the mother of a young baby, the sentencing judge must consider: (1) the effect of separation from the baby on the hardship of custody; (2) whether exceptional circumstances exist regarding the effect on the child; and (3) whether to decline to order juvenile detention given the absence of mother-and-baby facilities in juvenile detention centres. Failure to address these matters constitutes sentencing error. The relevance of the UNCROC to such sentencing exercises was left open.
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