The exceptional circumstances test for hardship to dependants in sentencing requires the court to weigh the public interest in imposing condign punishment against the public interest in the welfare of the offender's children; hardship becomes exceptional where the purposes of punishment are obtained at too high a price to the community's interest in children's welfare. The effect on the offender of separation from family (including the more burdensome nature of imprisonment) is a separate mitigating factor not subject to the exceptional circumstances limitation. A sentencing court must consider the probable effect of sentence on dependants in relation to the head sentence, not merely the non-parole period or recognisance release order. Interstate disparities in prison conditions for mothers (such as the absence of live-in facilities in South Australia) may be taken into account when sentencing federal offenders.
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