When calculating credit for time spent in custody on remand, a sentencing judge must not assume the offender would have been released on parole at the earliest eligible release date if the time in custody had formed part of the sentence. A sentence of imprisonment is not to be increased or reduced by reference to whether or not the offender is to be made eligible for parole. The power to correct a sentence under s 37 of the Sentencing Act 1995 (WA) should, as a matter of practice, be exercised by the original sentencing judge. Whether s 37(1) can only be exercised by the original sentencing judge, and whether the power ceases upon filing a notice of appeal, remain open questions.
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