Under the 1997 amendments to the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld), the totality principle does not require a sentencing court to reduce the head sentence to offset the mandatory cumulation required by s 156A(2) for offences committed on parole, nor to offset the deferral of parole eligibility under s 166(1)(c)(i) of the Corrective Services Act 1988 (Qld) for serious violent offences. The sentencing practice recommended in Coss v R (1995) 78 A Crim R 550 of adding old and new sentences and specifying half as the non-parole period is displaced by the new statutory regime. However, s 9(1) still requires that the offender be punished in a way which is just in all the circumstances, including proper allowance for an early plea of guilty.
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