When sentencing an intellectually disabled offender, the court must moderate the sentence to reflect the reduced relevance of general and specific deterrence and the offender's lower moral culpability. General deterrence is not eliminated but operates 'sensibly moderated'. A sentencing judge errs by imposing condign punishment appropriate only to the crimes without moderating for intellectual impairment. However, the availability of assessment and services under the Intellectually Disabled Persons' Services Act 1986 (Vic) does not require release on bail where the offences are grave and the disability is not so severe as to preclude imprisonment.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 9 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 9 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.