Where co-offenders are sentenced by different judges and the second sentencing judge is not informed of the first co-offender's sentence, a marked difference in starting points may give rise to an objective foundation for a sense of grievance even where there are significant differences in the roles and criminality of the co-offenders. The Crown bears a practical responsibility to ensure that information about co-offender sentences is actually received by the court and opposing counsel, and defence practitioners should take a proactive stance in ascertaining co-offender sentencing outcomes.
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