Western Australian Consolidated Acts

YOUNG OFFENDERS ACT 1994 - SECT 46

46 .         Principles and considerations to be applied to young offenders

        (1)         When dealing with a young person who has been found guilty of an offence, the court, in disposing of the matter, is to apply — 

            (a)         the principles applying generally for disposing of charges of offences, except as those principles are modified by this Act; and

            (b)         the general principles of juvenile justice.

        (2)         The court is to consider any information about the offender or the offence that may assist the court to decide how to dispose of the matter, and in particular — 

            (a)         the nature and seriousness of the offence;

            (b)         any history of offences previously committed by the offender;

            (c)         the cultural background of the offender;

            (d)         any order previously made by a court when disposing of a charge of an offence that still applies to the offender, and any further order that is liable to be imposed if the offender does not comply with the terms of any such order; and

            (e)         the extent, if any, to which any person was affected as a victim of the offence.

        (3)         The court is to dispose of the matter in a way that is in proportion to the seriousness of the offence and is consistent with the treatment of other young persons who commit offences.

        (4)         In deciding how to dispose of the matter, which includes deciding the appropriate degree of severity to be used, the court is to consider how young the offender is as a mitigating factor.

        (5)         The court is to have regard to the fact that the rehabilitation of an offender is facilitated by — 

            (a)         the participation of the offender’s family; and

            (b)         giving the offender opportunities to engage in educational programmes and in employment,

                but the absence of such participation or opportunities is not to result in the offender being dealt with more severely for the offence.

        (5a)         Subject to section 106 of the Road Traffic Act 1974 but despite any other enactment, where a written law provides that a mandatory penalty or that a minimum penalty shall be imposed in relation to an offence, the court dealing with a young person for the offence is not obliged to impose such a penalty.

        (6)         The operation of this section is affected by section 125.

        [Section 46 amended by No. 78 of 1995 s. 145.]