A sentencing judge's adoption of the standard non-parole period as a 'guidepost or benchmark from which to commence the sentencing exercise' constitutes the type of error identified in Muldrock v The Queen, even where the offender pleaded guilty. The Muldrock principles regarding intellectually impaired offenders do not automatically remove general deterrence or substantially diminish retribution and denunciation; the extent of any diminution depends on the degree of disability and the strength of the causal connection between the disability and the offending. Specific findings made by the High Court in Muldrock about the sentence in that case are not binding on other sentencing exercises involving different facts.
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