A gambling addiction may be treated as a mitigating factor in sentencing for theft offences where it forms part of the offender's whole background circumstances, provided it is not treated as reducing the importance of general deterrence. The distinction is between treating the addiction as constituting a degree of mitigation (permissible) and treating it as significantly reducing the importance of general deterrence (requiring unusual circumstances per R v Martin). Each case must be treated on its own facts.
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