The totality principle applies when an offender is being sentenced while already serving a custodial sentence imposed by another court, and the sentencing judge must evaluate the overall criminality involved in all offences. Sentences that are statistical outliers (top 10 per cent) require justification by the circumstances of the case, having regard to the principle of equal justice. A disadvantaged background, even where the evidence does not permit detailed findings and does not rise to the level considered in Bugmy, moderates moral culpability to at least a modest degree.
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