A young girl has been brutally attacked. She was punched and kicked and attempts were made to sexually assault her. The girls attacker was a 17 yea

A young girl has been brutally attacked. She was punched and kicked and attempts were made to sexually assault her. The girls attacker was a 17 year old young man, with a history of violence. The young mans solicitor argued that the crime was impulsive and opportunistic whereas the prosecuting council argued that his crime was predatory and pre-meditated.

(Case Study)

John is the youngest of four children initially raised by both his mother and father. Case notes from his childhood note that the family was extremely disruptive and dysfunctional and known to Social Services. His father, who was a heavy drinker, was extremely violent towards the family and would often physically discipline John and his siblings. When he was five his mother, who suffered from schizophrenia committed suicide. As a result, John and his siblings were taken into care. Initially, they were placed together but after four months John was separated from his siblings. His foster carers described him as an angry and disruptive boy who broke things and pushed them away. By the age of eight years, aggression at school was frequently reported in addition to chronic truanting. John felt unloved and unwanted and blamed himself for his mothers death. He no close friends and at school he was regarded as a loner and a weirdo by the other children and he frequently experienced bullying. He would often spend time alone ruminating on his poor treatment by others and fantasising to themes of revenge. He managed to perform reasonably well academically, but not as well as might have been expected (given that a later IQ assessment found he had above average intellectual ability). On a number of occasions, he become involved in physical fights with other children and eventually, at the age of 14 years was excluded from school after he assaulted a female teacher in class. Although he was subsequently excluded from school a number of times, he was never expelled and he left school at the age of 16 years. Thereafter, he returned to live with his father who was a heavy drinker. Johns father was not prone to expressing warmth or affection and never once discussed his mothers death with him. This lead to deep feelings of resentment and his problematic behaviour continued. A few months after living with his father he was arrested by the police during an incident where he was attempting to steal a bottle of vodka. The index offence was committed eight months later.