Sentencing reasons must, at a minimum, state or refer to the essential facts upon which an offender is sentenced and provide at least some assessment of, or reflection upon, the seriousness of the offending conduct. Observations made during a sentencing hearing cannot cure the complete absence of any discussion of objective seriousness in the sentencing judgment itself. Where an appellate court re-exercises the sentencing discretion and concludes a greater sentence was warranted, it is generally not necessary to specify the actual sentence it would have imposed.
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