A sentencing judge's finding that the mitigating effect of a dysfunctional upbringing is 'diminished' because the offender is a mature person who has had 'ample opportunity to address his difficulties' constitutes the same error identified by the High Court in [name withheld] v The Queen. The [name withheld] principle — that the effects of profound childhood deprivation do not diminish with the passage of time and repeated offending — applies to dysfunctional upbringings involving early exposure to illegal drug use, not only to backgrounds of violence and alcohol abuse.
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