A sentencing judge is obliged to take into account at the first opportunity all pre-sentence detention to which s 18(1) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) does not apply, including detention on unrelated charges that are still pending. The failure to do so constitutes specific error. The Renzella discretion does not require a full day-for-day credit; the more recent practice is to allow less than the full period. The Court left open the broader question of whether judicial compensation by way of sentence discounts for wholly unrelated detention is the appropriate mechanism to address the injustice of wrongful imprisonment.
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