Where sexual offending against a child involves a determined and conscious course of repeat offending over a sustained period, the mitigating impact of prior good character is significantly diminished. A sentencing judge who expressly rejects any causal link between an offender's psychiatric condition and the offending cannot then treat that condition as a significant factor in mitigation so as to substantially reduce the weight given to general deterrence. Penile penetration of a young child, even to a limited degree, involves conduct of a different order and more serious criminality than other forms of sexual intercourse.
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