Post-sentence legislative amendments to the Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld) mandating transfer of juvenile offenders to adult corrective services facilities cannot ground appellate intervention to reduce a sentence, because the appellate power under s 668E(3) of the Criminal Code is limited to substituting a sentence warranted in law at the time of sentencing. Evidence of changed conditions of detention arising from post-sentence legislative activity is inadmissible on a sentence appeal. A sentence of two and a half years detention with release after 50 per cent for a 16-year-old who pleads guilty to two counts of rape and four counts of aggravated indecent dealing against an 11-year-old is within the established range.
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