I think that generally there’s a lot to be said for not prosecuting juveniles as adults - that way you don’t get 14 year olds sentenced to whole-life terms because they were on the periphery of one crime that span out & away from them into their friend (or even someone they don’t know) doing something dreadfully tragically worse.
The point though, surely, is to have that as your general policy; & to examine cases that… don’t sit easily within it? Like, say, this one. Where not only was the offence was committed so close to the cut-off point for entering the adult system but the nature of the offence was so serious, there was a prior offence of a similar nature (& other very serious offences) - & crucially, the defendant is now 26!
It is maddening, as @Bellusaurus said, that only one group are considered “too vulnerable for prison”. Other than the small group of people who are sadly so habituated to incarceration they are happiest in prison, nobody wants to go to prison. People generally feel vulnerable. It is meant to be a punitive measure - & the idea of it is meant to deter people whose moral code isn’t sufficient to accomplish said task from committing criminal acts. Not much chance of that if you quite literally have a Get Out Of Jail Free Card in the shape of claiming to be a trans woman.
Surely effeminate men - whether gay or not - are being [most] actively discriminated against if judges are using “vulnerable” as a shorthand for “at risk of being raped”? There’s Human Rights Watch Report from 2001 about male rape in US prisons that they’ve had plenty of time to read now. There are enough prisoners with disabilities in America that they are effectively enacting mass incarceration of their disabled citizens, with more people with MH conditions in prison than in hospital. Disabled people are desperately vulnerable; & frequently denied (as the report I linked to notes) access to the care they need.
I want prisons to provide safe & suitable housing for all inmates. Which includes wheelchair accessible spaces throughout facilities as far as is possible; & creating wings/floors/units for trans women within men’s prisons.