Where an offender suffers from mental illness that contributed to the offence, the appropriate place for that condition to be balanced against the need for deterrence is in the fixing of the non-parole period, not the head sentence. A sentencing judge must make due allowance for mental illness as a mitigating factor reducing moral culpability, even in the worst category of wilful murder cases. The non-parole period should be set to allow the Parole Board to assess suitability for release on contemporary psychiatric advice at the relevant time. The question left open was whether the principle that mental illness may mean a sentence weighs more heavily on the offender (from R v Tsiaras) represents the law in Western Australia.
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