Sentencing judges must pay proper regard to guideline judgments and may not depart from them based on personal disagreement with the guideline's reasoning or statistical basis. Drug addiction does not diminish the objective seriousness of armed robbery committed to fund drug use. However, the Court of Criminal Appeal retains a residual discretion on Crown appeals to decline to intervene where the offender has made convincing progress in rehabilitation, even where the original sentence is manifestly inadequate. The objective criminality of an offence must be reflected not only in the head sentence but also in the non-parole period.
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