Where an offence was committed under a repealed statute that imposed a mandatory minimum sentence, and the replacement statute creates a substantially similar offence but confers a discretion to impose a lesser sentence, s 14(2) of the Criminal Code (NT) operates so that the offender cannot be sentenced to the mandatory minimum if it exceeds what is authorised under the later law. The change from a mandatory minimum to a discretionary regime is a substantive change, not a procedural one, for the purposes of s 14(2).
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