The case provides a structured five-stage framework for assessing the relevance of an offender's mental condition to sentencing: (1) moral culpability, (2) general deterrence, (3) personal deterrence, character and rehabilitation, (4) hardship of sentence, and (5) broader sentencing objectives. Drug-induced psychosis from self-induced intoxication will not generally lessen moral culpability or reduce the need for general deterrence, but where the offender's substance abuse arose from childhood disadvantage, a modest reduction in moral culpability may be appropriate. A history of substance abuse and relapse may justify a finding of poor rehabilitation prospects even where the addiction has its origins in social disadvantage.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 2 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 2 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.