Hardship to an offender's children may be taken into account as part of the general mix of subjective matters in sentencing, but cannot be used to justify a substantial reduction in sentence unless the hardship is truly exceptional. This applies equally to Commonwealth offenders under s 16A(2)(p) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). The decisions in R v X and R v Girard do not authorise a sentencing judge who has found hardship to be non-exceptional to nonetheless make a substantial discrete reduction on account of that hardship.
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