A sentencing judge's failure to expressly state that a plea of guilty has been taken into account does not necessarily vitiate the sentence in Victoria, though it is highly desirable for the judge to do so. Where the judge is silent, it may be more readily inferred that the plea was not considered, but the inference is not inevitable. The parity principle requires that co-offenders of equal culpability receive comparable sentences, and limitations on one co-offender's role arising from imprisonment do not of themselves justify a sentencing disparity.
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