In Victoria, the weight to be given to an offer to plead guilty to the offence of conviction remains a broad discretionary matter, and the sentencing judge may take into account a wide variety of circumstances including the strength of the Crown case. The question whether the utilitarian value of a guilty plea must be assessed independently of the strength of the Crown case (as held in NSW) remains unresolved in Victoria. The abolition of the partial defence of provocation does not, of itself, justify increasing sentences for manslaughter by unlawful and dangerous act to fill a perceived void in the sentencing spectrum.
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