The two-year jurisdictional maximum of the Local Court under s 27(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) is not a substitute maximum penalty for offences triable summarily; the statutory maximum for the offence remains relevant and the jurisdictional ceiling should not be reserved for the 'worst case'. When a co-offender has been sentenced in the Local Court and the offender is sentenced in the District Court, the parity principle applies but does not require reduction to a manifestly inadequate co-offender sentence; the sentencing judge should aim for the bottom of the available range. The fact that an offence could have been dealt with in the Local Court is a matter that may be taken into account in sentencing in a higher court, but is not a universal mitigating factor.
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