Criminal law – Sentence – Child offender – Where offender committed offences including murder – Where murder "a particularly heinous offence" under s 176(3)(b)(ii) of Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld) – Where offender sentenced to term of detention – Where s 227 of Youth Justice Act prevented release until offender had served 70 per cent of that term unless sentencing judge considered that "special circumstances" exist – Where sentencing judge concluded that "special circumstances" did not exist – Where appellate court held that sentencing judge allowed seriousness of offending to overwhelm mitigating factors – Whether open to appellate court to interfere with sentencing judge's conclusion that "special circumstances" did not exist.
Words and phrases – "ability to rehabilitate", "appellate review", "correctness standard", "deprived upbringing", "discretion", "judicial restraint", "manifestly excessive", "mitigating factors", "murder", "open-ended evaluative criteria", "particularly heinous offence", "period of detention", "personal circumstances", "pleas of guilty", "range of outcomes", "sentencing", "seriousness of the offending", "special circumstances", "standard of appellate review", "statutory default", "statutory interpretation", "unreasonable or plainly unjust".
Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld), Pt 7, Sch 4.