In dangerous driving cases under s 52A of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), the absence of a deliberate abandonment of responsibility widens the sentencing discretion but does not preclude full-time custody where moral culpability remains high. Periodic detention is not properly available where the offence involves death or serious injury and a significant blood alcohol level, even where the offender took some precautions against driving while intoxicated. A finding of special circumstances must be based on circumstances actually applicable to the sentence imposed, not on hypothetical conditions of a different sentencing regime.
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