A quantified discount for remorse, whether separately or combined with the utilitarian value of a guilty plea, is to be avoided as it is likely to result in double counting. Remorse should instead be taken into account through the mitigating factors in s 21A(3) such as prospects of rehabilitation and unlikelihood of reoffending. Convictions for offences committed after the offence being sentenced cannot aggravate the sentence but may deprive the offender of leniency that would otherwise flow from an absence of prior record.
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