Section 58 of the Sentencing Act (NT), requiring courts to take the abolition of remissions into account, does not apply to periods of home detention because the remission system only ever applied to prisoners in prison. There is no requirement that a period of home detention equate to or be less than the suspended sentence period, but the court must ensure the consequences of revocation are not too draconian, and the larger the gap between the head sentence and the home detention period, the more likely the punishment will be excessive. Head sentences cannot be made longer than otherwise just simply because the sentencer decides to suspend them.
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