5General principles of youth justice

5 General principles of youth justice

(1)  The powers conferred by this Act are to be directed towards the objectives mentioned in section 4 with proper regard to the following principles:

(a) that the youth is to be dealt with, either formally or informally, in a way that encourages the youth to accept responsibility for his or her behaviour;

(b) that the youth is not to be treated more severely than an adult would be;

(c) that the community is to be protected from illegal behaviour;

(d) that the victim of the offence is to be given the opportunity to participate in the process of dealing with the youth as allowed by this Act;

(e) guardians are to be encouraged to fulfil their responsibility for the care and supervision of the youth and should be supported in their efforts to fulfil this responsibility;

(f) guardians should be involved in determining the appropriate sanction as allowed by this Act;

(g) detaining a youth in custody should only be used as a last resort and should only be for as short a time as is necessary;

(h) [Section 5 Subsection (1) amended by No. 27 of 2013, s. 7, Applied:01 Mar 2014] any sanctioning of a youth is to be designed so as to give him or her an opportunity to develop a sense of social responsibility and otherwise to develop in beneficial and socially acceptable ways;

(i) [Section 5 Subsection (1) amended by No. 27 of 2013, s. 7, Applied:01 Mar 2014] any sanctioning of a youth is to be appropriate to the age, maturity and cultural identity of the youth;

(j) [Section 5 Subsection (1) amended by No. 27 of 2013, s. 7, Applied:01 Mar 2014] any sanctioning of a youth is to be appropriate to the previous offending history of the youth.

(2)  Effect is to be given to the following principles so far as the circumstances of the individual case allow: