A Facebook post by the teenager who killed pregnant mother Sarah Paino in a shocking car crash and is now on parole has been defended by the Prisoners' Legal Service.
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In the Facebook post the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is posing next to a police paddy wagon with the caption: "Ha don't miss this sh** lol".
It was posted just days after his release on parole earlier this month.
Prisoners Legal Service chair Greg Barns said he understood Ms Paino's family's distress at the now 19-year-old's release and the Facebook post.
"One has to take a post-modernist approach to statements by young people on Facebook," he said.
"This post can have a variety of interpretations - depending on who is reading it.
"One doesn't usually find that Facebook or any other social media are intelligent forums for a discussion about sentencing policies."
He's had a terrible life, made worse by putting him in Ashley which is an undergraduate school for Risdon.
- Greg Barns
Mr Barns said it was important people read the Parole Board's decision because it reflected the various factors they had taken into consideration when granting parole.
"It is in the community's interests that he is released on parole and can get supervision," Mr Barns said.
"There would be no supervision or support if he finished his five year sentence. That would be the end of it.
"He's had a terrible life, made worse by putting him in Ashley which is an undergraduate school for Risdon."
While there have been calls by Ms Paino's family for a longer prison term, Mr Barns said the sentence was appropriate.
"Any prison sentence is a very long time for a 15-year-old child and the court thought it was appropriate and the Director of Public Prosecutions didn't appeal it."
Mr Barns said he believed people were not deterred by prison sentences.
A Facebook post on a tribute page said the justice system had failed the Paino family.
"As little as three and a half years later the justice system has failed us, miserably," the tribute said.
"The past three and a half years have flown by and now he is allowed to walk the streets and continue to live his life after RUINING and TEARING apart ours!
"Sarah was the most amazing, caring and selfless person we knew yet the justice system have completely failed Sarah, where is her justice?"
The teenager was aged 15 when the stolen car he was driving in January 2016 ran a red light hitting Ms Paino's car killing her.
Her two-year-old son suffered minor injuries in the crash, while medical staff safely delivered her unborn son, Caleb, at the Royal Hobart Hospital.
The youth pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter for killing 24-year-old Ms Paino and was jailed for five years with a non-parole period of two-and-a-half years.
He was eligible for parole in July 2018 and an earlier application for parole was refused.
In its decision, the board said the boy was "young and by reason of that youth there remains prospect for his reform".
"Certainly during the custodial term there have been indications of improved insight, attitude and motivation toward compliance and prosocial behaviour," the decision said.
"Victim impact statements provided at the time of trial by the victim's former partner and mother have been considered.
"The extent of their loss is beyond comprehension."
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The board said since the boy was sent to Risdon Prison his behaviour had "moderated".
"Whilst between 30 July 2018 and 30 January 2019 there continued to be some occasions of misbehaviour, specifically possession of an article that was not authorised, resisting or obstructing a correctional officer and refusal to comply with a direction or order, the behaviour that was previously evident in the Ashley Youth Detention Centre context had significantly reduced,"it said.
"This change reflects a greater maturity and improved insight.
"When queried about this at the time of the hearing the applicant noted that he had decided that he needed to 'pull his head in' and to 'care'.
"The circumstances of the applicant's offending was horrendous.
"As a result of his actions a family have been left bereft of their partner and mother and a child has had a premature and abrupt entry into the world.
"For that child their birthday will forever be a reminder of the death of their mother."
The board said at the time of his offending the boy had "significant mental health, cognitive, drug abuse and antisocial impacts and influences"
However, the board said he had decided to steal a car and accompanied by three other youngsters he had "engaged in a prolonged period of unsafe driving through various regions of greater Hobart".
"At the same time, the victim, then 33 weeks pregnant, was driving her two-year-old child home after having dropped her partner at his work." the decision said.