An offender's minimal risk of reoffending is a mitigating factor that must be given weight in sentencing; it cannot be treated merely as the absence of a need for personal deterrence. The need for general deterrence cannot reduce or qualify mitigating factors — all mitigating factors must be taken into account through intuitive synthesis regardless of the weight given to general deterrence. For one-punch manslaughter involving a single impulsive blow without premeditation or knowledge of the victim's vulnerability, the offending is not at the high end of the scale of seriousness.
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