Where hardship to an offender's family does not constitute exceptional circumstances, it may still be taken into account through the exercise of mercy as part of the sentencing discretion, but the court must not react with undue emotion to hardship and must ensure that mercy does not undermine the general principle that family hardship is ordinarily irrelevant to sentencing. Mercy may be exercised as to the non-parole period even where it is not appropriate as to the head sentence. In white collar crime cases, the near-universal absence of specific deterrence does not diminish the importance of general deterrence and denunciation.
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