Drug addiction commenced in youth is not a mitigating factor as a matter of principle; it may be mitigating only in the particular circumstances of an individual case, such as where the addiction was formed through abuse or deprivation. Sentencing statistics from the Judicial Commission that do not distinguish between types of serious indictable offence, offender characteristics, conditional liberty status, or Form 1 matters permit no meaningful comparison. A notional starting point analysis is generally neither appropriate nor helpful for arguing manifest excess.
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