A complaint that a sentencing judge failed to give sufficient weight to the purposes of the Young Offenders Act 1993 (SA) is not a process error capable of independently enlivening the appeal court's power to intervene; it can only form part of a submission of manifest excess. Where a youth's sentence of detention is fixed, the proper approach is to determine the minimum period that will best achieve the objects of s 3 of the Act, not to apply a notional discount from an adult sentence. An effective sentence of 18 months detention for a 15-year-old first-time lengthy detainee convicted of aggravated robbery was manifestly excessive; approximately 12 months was sufficient.
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