Sentencing statistics for manslaughter offences are of such limited assistance that they should be avoided; they do not constrain or guide the sentencing discretion. A bare reference to s 3A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 is insufficient to demonstrate proper consideration of general and specific deterrence, particularly in cases of gratuitous unprovoked violence against elderly or vulnerable persons in public places. Where an offender has a prior criminal record including offences of similarity, the sentencing judge must make a specific finding as to the impact of that record on the sentence in accordance with Veen (No 2).
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