Page 58 - KDU INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE

KDU International Journal of Criminal Justice (KDUIJCJ)
Volume I | Issue II| July 2024

child was born. But the honourable High Court judge has not imposed the
minimum mandatory sentence on the accused; based on the proviso, only
a lesser punishment has been imposed on the accused.

4.0. Conclusion

While studying the judgments mentioned above, it could be identified that
the Sri Lankan judges applied the R and J clause where necessary to lesser
the punishments for offenders under eighteen years of age. But when
analyzing the judgments and the particular penal laws in relation to the R
and J clause, it could be noted that there are few drawbacks when applied
to the practical scenario in the Sri Lankan context.

The proviso has clearly defined that "the court may impose a sentence
less than ten years for the offender who is less than eighteen years of age”.
This proviso is based on the discretion of the judge, and they have the

freedom to lesser the imprisonment term or not, based on the
circumstances of the facts of the case. Therefore in some instances, the

wider discretion of the judge may negatively impact the accused as there
is no compulsory mitigation procedure for the accused.

In Sri Lanka R and J clause could be applied in the courthouse as a
mitigatory factor to lesser the punishment of the offender. But if this

clause is categorized as a defence, the innocent teenage lovers may
release to society without labelling them as "sex offenders".

A number of state laws in the USA have mentioned that if the victim is at
least thirteen years of age and the offender is not more than four years
25
older than the victim, consensual sexual intercourse is not a sex offence .
But in Sri Lanka, the proviso has not mentioned the age gap between the
offender and the victim and the minimum age of the victim was also not
declared. If Sri Lankan criminal laws expressly declare the age gap
between the offender and the victim and the minimum age of the victim,
it will help protect the teens' dignity and best interest. Therefore, the

25 Ibid
47