A community correction order may be an appropriate disposition for multiple offences of rape where the offender has profound intellectual disability (IQ 63) that significantly reduces moral culpability and contributed causally to the offending. In such cases, general and specific deterrence must be moderated, and denunciation and just punishment are of limited relevance. Imprisonment of a profoundly intellectually disabled offender may be regarded as inhumane. The residual discretion on a Crown appeal will be exercised where it would be an extraordinarily serious step to deny an intellectually impaired respondent her freedom after the sentencing judge released her into the community.
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