After the court has established the guilt of a young offender, it may request a social background report from Youth Justice to help determine an appropriate sentence [see Young Offenders Act 1993 (SA) s 32].

This report will contain information on the social background and personal circumstances of the youth [s 32(1)]. It can also contain information relating to the offender’s awareness of victim impact issues. It can only be prepared once an offence has been admitted or proved [s 32(3)]. The report cannot contain any recommendation about sentence [s 32(2)]. Medical evidence can also be tendered to the court, for example, a psychiatric assessment of the youth [s 32(5)]. If these reports are to be taken into account by the court during sentencing then they should be made available to the youth, their parents or guardians and to the prosecutor [s 33].

In addition to the sanctions that can be imposed from a police caution or family conference, the Youth Court can sentence a youth to:

The Youth Court can also order a youth to submit to obligations including supervision by Youth Justice, participation in a specified program, an obligation to carry out specified work or to reside at a specified address [s 26]. It is an offence to fail to comply with court-imposed obligations, with a maximum penalty of a fine of $2,500 or detention for 6 months (or both).

The Court may release a youth on an undertaking which may be conditional upon their parents or guardians enter into a supplementary undertaking to guarantee the youth's compliance with the undertaking and help prevent further offending [s 27].

A youth who is found guilty of murder must be sentenced to imprisonment for life and must be dealt with as an adult [Young Offenders Act 1993 (SA) s 29(4)].

A youth who has been found guilty by the Supreme Court or District Court of any offence other than homicide may be sentenced in the same manner as an adult, or the court may make any order that would be in accordance with how the Youth Court would sentence the youth, or send the matter back to the Youth Court for sentencing [s 29(1)].

Where a youth asks to be tried in the Supreme Court or District Court, they cannot be sentenced as an adult unless the court is satisfied that this is warranted by the gravity of the offence or the youth's history of offending [s 29(3)].

Under s 3(2a) of the Young Offenders Act 1993 (SA) the focus in sentencing a young offender is on the deterrent effect on the youth personally, not general deterrence, as is the case in the adult jurisdiction. However, where a youth is being dealt with as an adult, the court may consider the general deterrent effect on other youths. A court sentencing a youth who has demonstrated a pattern of repeated offending must also give substantial weight to the impact of the offending and the need to protect the community [s 3(2a)(b)].

Recidivist young offenders

A youth will be taken to be a recidivist young offender if they have been convicted of at least 3 serious offences (committed on separate occasions) or at least 2 serious sexual offences (committed on separate occasions) [Sentencing Act 2017 (SA) s 55]. A conviction in this contextmeans a finding of guilt by a court, or the acceptance of a plea of guilty by a court, whether or not a conviction is recorded [s 52]. It includes all offences committed by the youth as a youth including offences where the youth was dealt with as an adult [s 55(2)].

A youth who is a recidivist young offender or who becomes a recidivist young offender upon a conviction may receive a heavier sentence because the court is not required to ensure the sentence it imposes is proportional to the offence [s 55(3)(a)]. The court must also impose a non-parole period that is four-fifths the length of the head sentence [s 55(3)(b)].

The court may decline to sentence a young recidivist offender as such if satisfied that special circumstances exist [see s 55(5)].

There are also implications for conditional release (see Detention).