Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Modern penology leans towards reforming a criminal. - Held, that though the nature of the offence committed by the petitioner is always a relevant circumstance but other factors also have to be taken into consideration. The petitioner who is a first offender was of a very young age at the time of the commission of the offence. The modem penology leans towards reforming a criminal and for that purpose legislature has enacted Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 and precisely for that reason Section 360 was introduced in the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. If first offenders, who are of young are, are sent to prison, there is every likelihood of their becoming hardened criminals. Considering the above factors the present case is one in which benefit of Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act should have been given to the petitioner.