A sentencing judge must expressly assess the objective seriousness of each offence and indicate how the purposes of sentencing (including deterrence and community protection) have been factored into the sentence. The theoretical availability of summary disposal in the Local Court is not a relevant sentencing consideration where it would have been inappropriate for the offences to be dealt with summarily, such as where the offender is also charged with strictly indictable offences. Significant subjective mitigating factors, including early guilty pleas, early seeking of treatment, and prior good character, cannot prevail over the proportionality principle requiring a sentence not less than the objective gravity of the offence requires. It is erroneous to afford an offender an additional benefit for utilising the Form 1 procedure beyond the inherent cap on sentence.
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