Where an offender is subject to an involuntary treatment order under the Mental Health Act 2000 (Qld), the existence of that order and the mechanisms under the Act may be taken into account in assessing the weight to be given to community protection as a sentencing factor. Mental impairment falling short of insanity operates as a mitigating factor reducing moral culpability and diminishing the weight of general deterrence, but may also mark the offender as dangerous — these countervailing considerations must be weighed. Protection of the community is not a mantra to be chanted automatically in every case of violence; there must be evidence from which a threat to the community can be inferred, with a foundation of substance.
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