Young Offenders Act 1993

The object of this Act is to secure for youths who offend against the criminal law the care, correction and guidance necessary for their development into responsible and useful members of the community and the proper realisation of their potential.

The powers conferred by this Act are to be directed towards that object with proper regard to the following statutory policies:

a youth should be made aware of his or her obligations under the law and of the consequences of breach of the law;

the community, and individual members of it, must be adequately protected against violent or wrongful acts.

In imposing sanctions on a youth for offending—

regard should be had to the deterrent effect any proposed sanction may have on the youth; and

if the youth has demonstrated a pattern of repeated offending, substantial weight should be given to the impact of that offending and the need to protect the safety of the community (whether as individuals or in general).

In determining whether a youth has demonstrated a pattern of repeated offending for the purposes of subsection (2a)(b), matters dealt with by a police officer or family conference are to be disregarded (including matters of a kind referred to in section 17(2)).

Effect is to be given to the following statutory policies so far as the circumstances of the individual case allow:

compensation and restitution should be provided, where appropriate, for victims of offences committed by youths;

compensation and restitution should also be provided, where appropriate, for persons who have suffered loss or damage as a result of offences committed by youths;

family relationships between a youth, the youth's parents and other members of the youth's family should be preserved and strengthened;

a youth should not be withdrawn unnecessarily from the youth's family environment;

there should be no unnecessary interruption of a youth's education or employment;

a youth's sense of racial, ethnic or cultural identity should not be impaired.

This section does not apply to a court imposing sanctions on a youth who is being dealt with as an adult, whether because the youth's conduct is part of a pattern of repeated offending or for some other reason, including, for example, the gravity of the offending (and the laws applying in relation to the sentencing of an adult apply to such a youth).