The South Australian practice of establishing sentencing standards indicating a range of sentences for ordinary cases of particular crimes remains valid after Wong v The Queen, as it is distinguishable from prescriptive guideline judgments. Sentencing courts should continue to identify the specific quantified reduction given for a plea of guilty, taking into account the timing of the plea, contrition, and cooperation with authorities. The totality principle must be applied as the final step in the sentencing process, after all matters of mitigation including the plea of guilty have been considered. The sentencing standard for armed robbery of the type involving threats with weapons against vulnerable victims at premises such as service stations and retail stores remains six to eight years, but this standard should not be applied as a rigid tariff and it is undesirable to create sub-categories of armed robbery.
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