WINNIPEG -- A Level 4 car thief who led police on a dangerous high speed chase is better off at home, not sitting in a jail cell, a judge ruled Monday.

"What is he going to learn in jail?" said Judge Marvin Garfinkel. "How better to pick locks?"

The 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to possession of goods obtained by crime and failing to comply with a probation order and was sentenced to six months deferred custody. If he is re-arrested, he will serve the sentence in jail.

"If he messes up once, he is in jail," Garfinkel said.

Deferred custody will "also keep him away from influences within the institution."

Crown attorney Liz Pats told Garfinkel it's a sure bet the boy will continue stealing cars and recommended he be sentenced to another 90 days custody and community supervision.

"He's a car thief and if he's not stealing them, he's in them," Pats said. "There is no doubt that when he is finished serving whatever sentence your honour sees fit to give him, he will be back ... (The boy) is dangerous and a deferred custody order does not address that."

The boy is the younger brother of an 18-year-old man accused of driving a stolen Hummer involved in a crash that killed 47-year-old Zdzislaw Andrzecjzak. Another brother, also a prolific car thief, is serving a prison sentence for shooting a man.

"His record is probably longer than both of his brothers combined," Pats said.

Court heard the boy has been diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and alcohol related neuro-developmental disorder and suffers from "poor impulse control."

Garfinkel said the Youth Criminal Justice Act prevents judges from considering denunciation and deterrence in sentencing. Garfinkel likened jailing the boy to jailing somebody because they suffer from multiple sclerosis.

"Haven't we evolved as a society to say that we have to take into account the condition of the individual, that we have to craft a sentence unique to the person?" he said.

Garfinkel rejected the Crown's call for custody.

"It seems to me that Parliament is mandating something else. If you don't like what the judges do, elect people to Parliament who will change the laws so that judges will do what you want them to do."

The boy was arrested last November after he and two other teens -- including the younger sister of "laughing girl," the teen infamous for laughing to police about a fatal stolen car crash -- were spotted driving along Portage Avenue in a stolen 2004 GMC Yukon. The teens fled police at speeds reaching 100 km/h, blowing through stop signs and red lights and running over sidewalks.

At one point, after striking a median, the Yukon spun around and drove straight at police, narrowly missing them. The chase ended at the St. Charles Country Club where the teens abandoned the vehicle and were quickly captured.

"It's amazing that nobody was killed," Pats said.

Garfinkel didn't impose a term of probation. The boy is already bound by three probation orders that don't expire for another two years.

Garfinkel ordered that the boy have no contact with his two co-accused and that he not be allowed in a vehicle without the owner's permission.

dean.pritchard@sunmedia.ca